In 2014, Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler AG and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, rolled out Pinnacle Truck Parts, a B2B e-commerce platform for simplifying and expediting buying parts for big 18-wheelers and other commercial vehicles.
When the B2B e-commerce platform went live, it gave dealers and others access to an available inventory of more than 100,000 SKUs from dozens of suppliers ranging from Delco Remey for starters and alternators to Firestone for tires.
Now Daimler Trucks, which manufactures a range of commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses nameplates, is adding on new features for the 10,000 registered users of PinnacleTruckParts.com, says Daimler Trucks North America manager, aftermarket technology solutions manager Pam Perez.
The B2B e-commerce site has been newly updated to be integrated with 5 Daimler Truck dealer management systems to allow customers to view real-time price and product availability, place orders online and view order status and invoicing. Additionally, the Pinnacle B2B e-commerce platform is now connected to the shop floor management systems of the truck maker’s major fleet customers to support electronic purchases-to-payment technology, Perez says.
A shop management system lets fleet managers track vehicle repairs and service from the estimate through a final invoice and electronic purchases-to-payment technology expedites invoice processing and referencing and electronics payment directly into an accounts management system, says Gartner. “This technology is currently used by some of the largest fleets in the business,” says Perez, although Daimler didn’t provide specific names.
The Pinnacle truck parts portal also has been updated with other new features that include a new dashboard and better analytics, an independent repair facility locater, a save-a-quote tool, faster parts search and a message center and library. In 2019 the B2B e-commerce site also will be updated with better ways to find and use coupons, a better integrated parts catalog and more mobile tools, although the truck maker did not provide details.
Daimler Trucks won’t say much in the way of detail about its B2B e-commerce operations such as annual sales and related metrics. But Daimler Trucks, which in 2017 sold 470,700 vehicles globally and 165,000 vehicles in North America, does says B2B e-commerce is strategic priority. “We are seeing growing adoption and utilization,” Perez says. “Our goal in 2018 is to use this platform to reach new customer segments.”
Sign up for a complimentary subscription to B2BecNews, a twice-weekly newsletter that covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B e-commerce industry. B2BecNews is published by Vertical Web Media LLC, which also publishes DigitalCommerce360.com, Internet Retailer and Internet Health Management. Follow B2BecNews editor Paul Demery on Twitter @pdemery.
Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when new B2BecNews content is published.