Development of our parts shop

The Dumper Experts On-line Shop

As the largest supplier on Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford dumper parts in the UK, Plant & Engineering Services (PES) decided the time was right to go ‘on-line’. Back in the summer of 2019 we looked at various web sites that pretended to sell dumper parts on-line and noted that they only sold a few fast moving consumables like hand brake cables etc. Here at PES we decided if we were going to do it we would do it properly and try have replicate our normal ‘telephone sales’ approach so effectively every single Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford parts that we had in the stores would have to be on-line as well. With over £750,000 worth of parts on the shelf that’s a lot of work to do but as we are the leading supplier of dumper parts in the UK, we wanted to be the leading on-line supplier as well.

With the help of Ampology Digital of Newton Abbot, without whom it would never have got off the ground, a bespoke website shop was designed and built that linked direct to Ibcos, our operating system that provided real-time information between the two. For example, if you wanted a handbrake cable for your Thwaites dumper not only would it be easy to find with pictures and a drawing, the current level of stock would be shown so you could know that when you ordered it you would get it the next day as too many ‘supposed’ on-line shops let you order something when they didn’t actually have it.

We also wanted our on-line shop so our existing customers could simply log-on with a password and all their details would appear with relevant discount levels to prevent endless repetitive keying in of basic details and when somebody ordered a part it would add it to their account automatically if they were an existing customer. Also, when the part was ordered by a customer say in Codsall, Wolverhampton it would simply produce an advice note in the stores to be picked, packed and despatched with no other human interaction.

So, by Christmas of 2019 we effectively had the programme written, all we needed to do is populate it with £750,000 worth of Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford parts with pictures, photo’s descriptions and drawings. As a certain Meerkat says on the telly………………. simples.

Six months later after a tremendous amount of work, especially by Marc the Parts Manager, we were ready to go live in the summer of 2020. After spending approximately £80,000 to get it to this stage and numerous hours of testing and proving we were unsure how successful it was going to be, after all that effort and time it could be a complete flop and nobody use it.

Within 24 hours we had a first order!!! Within 2 months we were up to £4000 per month and here we are now nearly 18 months down the line regularly doing £15000 per month on-line. The strange thing is we did it as we thought we would be losing customers to other on-line formats whereas what has happened is it has brought new customers in, the take-up from existing ones has been slower than anticipated.

So, PES has entered the 21^st century!! Not only are we the largest supplier of Thwaites, Terex, Terex/JCB, Mecalac and Barford spare parts in the UK in the traditional ‘telephone sales way’, I wouldn’t mind betting that we are the biggest ‘on-line seller’ as well making the purchase of dumper parts in whatever way you want to do it as easy as possible.

If you need an on-line presence I can thoroughly recommend Ampology, contact Darren or Anthony on 01626 912385 or mail@ampology.co.uk. They are professional, easy to work with and produce a 1^st class product.