Parts Town

A leading supplier of food equipment replacement parts and commercial kitchen accessories for more than 20 years, Parts Town has built a reputation for changing the way it services customers to keep pace with their changing needs for sales and service.

(Information Architecture) (Advanced Site Search)
(Website Design) (Micro Site Development)
(Integration) (Application Development)
(QA Automation) (Performance Optimization)

Recognizing that a generation of purchasing managers in the restaurant industry that have grown up making online purchases were becoming a larger portion of their customers, and that more and more commercial suppliers were launching web sites to service their customers, Parts Town set about developing a strategy to not just transfer its catalog to the web, but build a web site that positioned the company as an ecommerce leader in its industry by changing the way restaurant managers shopped for replacement parts online.

It was an ambitious goal. Ordering of replacement parts is rooted in manual processes. Purchasing managers first look through a supplier’s catalog, identify the part, and then call, fax or e-mail their order in. On any given day, Parts Town’s handles thousands of orders and customer inquiries. Creating a web site that provides access to its entire catalog of products, real time inventory, supporting technical documents, and enables customers to track their orders was seen as a way to raise the bar on servicing customers and position Parts Town as an ecommerce leader.

After Parts Town consulted with SysIQ about its commitment to build a customized web store that changed the ecommerce paradigm for its industry, Parts Town came away convinced it had found the right partner. The plan for the site called for streamlined navigation paths for product research and instantly downloadable high resolution images for each of Parts Town more than 100,000 SKUs when category and product pages were assembled.

Site search was enhanced by allowing visitors to search for product manuals using pull down menus to find the manufacturer and model number of the part in question. Restaurant mangers will often consult these manuals for technical specifications to make sure they are ordering the right part. Trouble is they had to contact the manufacturer directly in advance of purchase to request the catalog be mailed to them or hope the manufacturer had the information available on their web site. With the solution SysIQ delivered visitors now can quickly search for any part by entering the name of the part into the site search engine on the home page or clicking on a parts category.

Having real time access to manufacturer’s technical and service specifications is a huge advancement for the restaurant and food service equipments parts industry, as it speeds the processing of placing an order by days. Customers that may need to consult the manufacturer’s site for additional information can do so by clicking on a tab at the top of the home page that opens a page with links to all manufactures supported by Parts Town’s catalog.

Remaking the process of how its customers order parts online was only the first step. Next, Parts Town and SysIQ built several micro sites for client restaurant chains that have the same look and feel of the chain’s own internal web site, only displays parts relevant to equipment in their restaurants, and catalogs parts according to the name the chain has given each part.

Parts Town’s innovative approach to ecommerce has shifted the majority of orders and customer service inquiries from the call center to the web site and in the process enhanced the level of customer service it provides to customers through all channels.By taking the time to listen to Parts Town’s vision for its eccommerce site and offering suggestions on how to take the site to another level without straying from the framework of Parts Town’s vision for the site, SysIQ demonstrated it is a true technology partner, as opposed to a technology supplier.

Remaking the process of how its customers order parts online was only the first step. Next, Parts Town and SysIQ built several micro sites for client restaurant chains that have the same look and feel of the chain’s own internal web site, only displays parts relevant to equipment in their restaurants, and catalogs parts according to the name the chain has given each part.

SysIQ Client Testimonials

"There are a lot of managers in the restaurant industry that use the web to gather information or shop, we wanted to create a site that evolves what has been a manual research and ordering process for our industry beyond what the most savvy ecommerce shoppers were used to by creating a simple, organized easy-to-use web site, and thanks to SysIQ we succeeded. Even if someone comes to the site to research a part and places an order elsewhere, the depth of information we provide to our customers enhances the value of our brand."

"Some customers still want to order over the phone, by e-mail or fax and for those that do, we have been able to service them more effectively and efficiently. We wanted to take ecommerce in our industry to a higher level, but also have a web site that is part of a comprehensive customer interaction strategy so customers can interact with us through the channel with which they are most comfortable using. SysIQ came in with an open mind about how to customize the site to meet our needs, they shared the passion of our vision for the site and that made the creation of the site we envisioned possible."

Steve Snower, President
Parts Town