iTECH: Purchasing Power Units in the Information Age

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img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/iTECHlogo.gif" width=119 align=right>For the past few years, Class 8 tractor manufacturers have utilized the Internet primarily to afford fleets and carriers easy access to such simple information as dealer names and basic product specifications. However, the tide is turning: A push toward more thoroughly informing and educating customers about their offerings, as well as increasing customer convenience, is spurring suppliers to execute a multitude of Web site enhancements.

Sophisticated tractor specification search tools top the list of such improvements. "The goal," says Ann Demitruk, director of marketing for Willoughby, Ohio-based Sterling Trucks (www.sterlingtrucks.com) and Western Star Trucks (www.westerntrucks.com), "is to provide as much detail as possible," so that customers arrive at dealers' facilities armed with a solid, diverse base of knowledge.

For Sterling and Western Star, filling the bill has entailed incorporating a search function that permits users to locate tractors by individual application or model number. Users then click a link for specifications, including axle position, axle range and BBC, among others. Near-term plans call for the addition of truck locators that will enable fleet operators and carriers to search the inventory records of Sterling and Western Star dealers, employing similar criteria. Down the road, both companies will offer customers the option of employing portal technology to customize the data they see upon logging in to each site, reports Ben Wieder, electronic communications specialist.

For the full story, see the December Issue of iTECH, which appeared as a supplement in the Dec. 2 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.