Decent E-Commerce Parts Store

[Mitch Gallant]

DMS integration matters to a point, parts departments have hundreds of thousands of parts and if you we're looking to create something where you could distribute some of those the integration would be wicked for inventory control and accessibility to order from the outside world.

In my case, I'd simply like to set up a good parts counter where I can get rid of some T-Shirts and watches, maybe some mugs and model cars, something fairly basic to start with - DMS integration would be perfect if part in question is in limited quantity, nothing would kybosh a customers perception faster then a call saying "Hi, the order you made... ya we don't have it so we're going through the convoluted process of sending your cash back... you're welcome for screwing with you, it was fun for us too."

Does DMS integration matter for parts inventory? .... Plus I would think they want to sell all sorts of aftermarket parts.

 

[Driving Revenue]

For your specific situation Mitch - I go back to my original recommendation - build your own eCommerce store online. Upload pictures of whatever is in your flyer for that month with the specials along with your watches, t-shirts, and key chains. If it's 10 - 15 items per month, it won't cost much or take much time. Once you figure all the details out and what the time involved is you can slowly add more and more.

Another option would be to create something like a landing page that has all the information and then a contact form rather than a shopping cart. It may not be perfect but it does get you closer to your goal - better integration between your dealership and your website.

If your parts information can be parced out of the system a half decent programmer should be able to build a site with that catalog of data. I havn't done it before myself but I can see the potential. If anybody wants to try and get the data out of their DMS (my biggest challenge) I would be willing to play around with it and see what happens.

 

[umer.autojini]

Mitch... if you are going to had enter the products... with images... and then doing a nightly DMS integration...

Then... I would defiantly like to put our product commerce8 for consideration.

sample e-commerce site..

http://www.thestationerystudio.com
http://www.thefinestwatches.com

 

[Mitch Gallant]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't care for the look or feel of these, while they may be very functional I would prefer something that looks more "web 2.0-ish". No offence inteaded, but I need to do everything I can to project an 'ahead of the game' appearance on our website.

Then... I would defiantly like to put our product for consideration.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

XiGroup used to offer ShopFx or something like that. I no longer see them offering it on their website under produects. Joe High still runs the ship over there.

I was using them (because the dealer was using it before I arrived) when I was at MBofHagerstown.

ShopMercedesParts

It's accessories upload only and not overly intuitive, BUT it was cheap and we were making sales with it. Of course I had a clever way of driving traffic to the site.

 

[umer.autojini]

Mitch... no offense taken... what kind of web2.0 are you looking for... can easily do drag and drop cart... or single click cart... single click checkout like BN.com... etc... can integrate into Flex... i.e FlexStore

 

[Brian Tucker]

Has anyone had any dealings with these guys? I have spoke to a dealer that uses them but I think his needs were a little different then mine. Thanks in advance!

 

[Alex Snyder]

I've looked at Insignia a few times. They've got a decent solution for selling aftermarket, after-sale, products. I haven't looked at them in a while though.....I guess that doesn't really help.

 

[Brian Tucker]

Dealertrack looks to have a solution for parts - I found this example of a live store - Website Plug-in v3.0
anybody used this or seen a live demo?

 

[Matt DoCampo]

In my case, I'd simply like to set up a good parts counter where I can get rid of some T-Shirts and watches, maybe some mugs and model cars, something fairly basic to start with - DMS integration would be perfect if part in question is in limited quantity, nothing would kybosh a customers perception faster then a call saying "Hi, the order you made... ya we don't have it so we're going through the convoluted process of sending your cash back... you're welcome for screwing with you, it was fun for us too."

I'm looking for something similar. For now, I just built out an eBay store. I built an Excel spreadsheet listing all of the schwag they have and my parts guy shoots me a email at the end of the day with what he sold (if anything, hence the reason for the eBay store).