Navistar International Corp, a big international manufacturer of trucks, buses and related parts and accessories, is expediting ecommerce for customers that order parts through its dealers.

Navistar, which generated total sales of $10.25 billion in 2018, including parts sales of $2.40 billion, is developing new ecommerce technology, features and services that could generate as much as $100 million in online parts sales as soon as 2022, the company says.

“Ecommerce addresses the ease of doing business,” Navistar president, aftersales, alliance managementy  Friedrich Baumann told Wall Street analysts and others during the manufacturer’s recent investor’s day meeting at its headquarters in Lisle, Ill.

Navistar has been in the online parts business for nearly 10 years. In 2010, Navistar launched Partsmartparts.com as a business-to-business ecommerce site and in 2011 began selling Navistar private label products on Amazon.com, the company says. Its Partsmartparts.com has since been replaced by Fleetrite.com, a site operated by Navistar’s Fleetrite parts distribution unit that provides online customers with a tool for finding dealers.

In Navistar’s latest ecommerce move, it has made parts for its International trucks and IC bus brands available through RepairLink, an online marketplace for original equipment automotive parts, at RepairLinkshop.com, where customers can order parts through Navistar’s network of 727 dealers in the U.S. and Canada and 89 dealers in Mexico.

15,000 online marketplace users

By next year about 90% of Navistar dealers and 15,000 total users that buy parts through those dealerships will be connected to RepairLink, the company says. RepairLink “has complete coverage of the parts catalog and expected incremental revenue of $100 million by 2022,” Baumann told analysts.

RepairLink notes on its website that Navistar is the first manufacturer to make heavy-duty parts available through its online portal; RepairLink also makes original equipment parts available from other brands including General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota.

RepairLink is owned and operated by OEConnection, or OEC, a Cleveland-based provider of online technology designed to help original equipment manufacturers and franchised dealers connect with one another and with end customers. In September, private equity firm Genstar Capital acquired a majority stake in OEC; Genstar didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal.

OEC says its technology is used by more than 30,000 auto dealers globally, 36 global original equipment manufacturer brands and more than 135,000 global auto repairers.

Ecommerce is a key part of Navistar 4.0

Navistar didn’t release any more details on the size and scope of its ecommerce program. But ecommerce, as one part of a four-year business strategy called Navistar 4.0, is emerging as a priority, the company says. “We will grow after-sales revenues with an expanding distribution network, growing private label sales and ecommerce,” Navistar says.

To expedite ecommerce, Navistar is building faster delivery options throughout its part distribution in six U.S centers, two locations in Canada, and one center each in Mexico and South Africa.

By using updated analytics and artificial intelligence to help dealers better track and anticipate replacement parts, Navistar now says it can now offer next-day delivery to about 90% of its customer base through its dealer network.

“Who here does not like the simplicity of online shopping?” Baumann said. “The goal in our space is to give customers a seamless digital experience.”

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