Cummins will launch a shopping cart feature in April that will allow you to check the availability of engine parts and send order information to your distributor through its QuickServe Online site.
“Even if you need to check parts at 3 o’clock in the morning and start the ordering process then, you can do that,” said Bruce Farrar, a spokesperson for Cummins.
The shopping cart is the first ordering process available on the site, which also offers parts catalogs, owner’s manuals and service bulletins for every Cummins engine built since 1960. Farrar said the best thing about the new feature is that it allows end users to build an order for a specific engine rapidly and on their schedule, rather than only during business hours. This is especially important for road building markets, which are moving toward 24-hour operation, he said.
Eventually, Cummins hopes to mold the shopping cart feature into a fully operational Web store that will allow you to complete transactions online. When launched next month, however, the shopping cart will allow you to place an order with your distributor, who will then contact you to complete the sale. Still, everything can be done over the phone and online, and the parts will be shipped directly to your location, so you don’t have to make a trip to a dealership.
Cummins is currently operating the shopping cart feature in a test mode, which Farrar says is working well. “We’re clearly ready to go,” he says.
Even without the shopping cart feature, the QuickServe Online site has been popular, receiving approximately 19 million hits per month. The company offers three different subscriptions to the site. Free registration gives you access to owner’s manuals, service and publication catalogs and limited access to parts catalogs. For $50 per year, you can add customized information such as service and troubleshooting/repair bulletins for up to five specific engines. This fee will also give you access to the shopping cart feature. A subscription offering the same information for an unlimited number of engines is also available.
Farrar said parts diagrams and service bulletin updates get the most hits. When parts numbers are superseded, the website – which dealers as well as customers use – is updated with new numbers immediately. This eliminates mix-ups and decreases the number of orders placed for parts numbers that no longer exist, Farrar said.
Using online catalogs with or without the shopping cart feature is also a time saver because you can place an order or call a distributor and ask for a specific part number rather than for a type of part for an engine number. “It makes it very clear and concise and ensures you get the right parts,” Farrar said.
