The ecommerce boom across the country wouldn’t be possible without the trucking industry. Whether they know it or not, millions of Americans each day rely on trucking fleets and logistics companies to get their online orders moved, routed, and delivered within days. But what about the trucking industry’s own ecommerce needs?
“What’s interesting about this industry is that it’s been slower to adopt ecommerce and other digital solutions,’ Darren Taylor, FleetPride SVP of marketing and digital, said during a virtual media event on Oct. 12.
FleetPride has been beta testing a new ecommerce site for fleet customers to research and order parts for the past year. While FleetPride kept an active and comprehensive catalog on its website, visitors could only look up product information. Now fleets and other trucking customers can purchase items at FleetPride.com. There are more than 176,000 products available online for Classes 6-8 vehicles and heavy-duty trailers. Customers can search by part number, cross reference, year/make/model/engine type, or VIN.
“As a leader in the HD aftermarket, we are actually in a perfect position to lead in digital because we are able to leverage our scale to invest in the most relevant digital toolbox, artificial intelligence, and mass amounts of product and customer data and combine that with the local expertise in the branches to understand customers’ needs and create tailored digital solutions for the customer,” Taylor said.
“Whether it is a truck down situation, or re-ordering to stock up on items, FleetPride will relentlessly pursue being the first click for customers in the heavy-duty industry by being the most reliable solution,” said Darren Taylor, FleetPride senior vice president of marketing and digital. “Now customers can click, talk, chat or visit FleetPride to immediately access the expansive inventory of parts and vast network of stores, service centers, and distribution centers to get the exact products and services needed to keep their trucks moving.”
The site, which just exited the beta testing and is available across the U.S., allows fleet customers to securely store information on their vehicles in the “My Fleet” portal, setting them up to find parts in the future easily. Similarly, users can create favorite parts lists for the products they want to save. Customers can discover alternative parts and are offered additional parts to help complete the job. Additionally, newly redesigned search and checkout pages highlight critical information like ‘exact fit’ and real-time availability.
Enhancing its supply chain
Along with the new ecommerce offering, Taylor said that FleetPride is strengthening its supply chain by offering direct shipping options to customers from its five distribution centers and many branches across the U.S.
With an IBM-powered order management system and transportation management system, the site allows customers to accurately check the availability of real-time local inventory and select how they want to receive the product: through branch pickup, local delivery, or direct shipping. Now, even the most obscure product will be easily accessible and delivered when and where the customer needs it, the company noted.
“This was a game-changer,” Taylor said. “It’s a great example of listening to customers and transforming how we do business and making it just simple for them. This changes how the customers get their job done on a daily basis and changes the physical flow of goods across the country.”
Taylor said that the company focused on creating a user experience based on how heavy-duty fleet customers operate. “Whether it's a truck down situation, or they're just replenishing routine stock items, we're constantly test driving new experiences with the customers in the field to learn how they use digital tools in real life, to help us accelerate the right things,” he said.
All orders and invoices can be managed through the site regardless of whether they’re placed online or in stores. Products ordered online can be returned to any FleetPride location. FleetPride also has an online chat and phone support available from its team of heavy-duty equipment experts and a help page. Customers can also send pictures from their mobile devices to help them confidently identify and order the right parts.
FleetPride CEO Mike Duffy credited the companies’ digital transformation strategy for making its new ecommerce offering possible. “We've developed a prioritized roadmap of opportunities to enhance decision making, elevate the customer experience, and improve process productivity through digital,” he said during the media briefing. “Its success requires a comprehensive approach.”
That approach includes operation investments in planning software, warehouse management, transportation management, order management, and other digital and customer systems. “Our new integrated data platform, for example, will facilitate the aggregation and standardization of data, so data can be used as an asset to further improve the customer experience,” Duffy said.
These data systems, Duffy said, set up FleetPride to continue to grow and compete in the future. And the aftermarket company’s planning systems “will provide more visibility, more transparency to our manufacturer partners,” he said. “This, in turn, will improve the resiliency and responsiveness of the supply chain, help maximize in-stock availability on the broadest set of parts the industry has to offer. And ultimately, we'll be able to share that availability and visibility with our customers, 24/7 through our ecommerce platform.”
