This is the fifth in a series of blogs that talk about the major differences between B2C and B2B. The last blog talked about the value of Requesting Quotes on a B2B site (see link to blog). This blog will talk about the value of being able to locate Local Sellers.

Local availability of heavy Duty Truck Parts is critical to keeping trucks on the road and not in the shop. Local sellers provide knowledgeable parts people as well as part delivery, not to mention the fact that they help the maintenance shop keep its own parts inventory to a minimum. No matter how effective online purchasing becomes, this cornerstone of parts supply will continue to be a most important solution to maximizing equipment uptime.

However, online B2B can play an important role in helping a part buyer find local sellers that he may not realize have the part he needs when his primary supplier is out of stock. For example, if a buyer is looking for a Navistar part and his local dealer is out, he might find an alternative part sold by either an aftermarket or a different OE brand. Navistar, Freightliner, Kenworth, Peterbilt, and Volvo all sell identical parts under different numbers and access to a cross-reference database can provide the part numbers. Once you know the alternate part numbers you can search for those local sellers. A good B2B site should provide alternate part numbers to the buyer and sources of supply for those alternates.

Most of us who use the internet have our favorite sites that we are familiar with and can navigate easily. Online B2B truck part buying is no different. If you find a site that is set up to make your search and purchasing easier, it will likely become a favorite. A website that can help you find a competitive price as well as local inventory through alternate parts might well prove to be a time and money saver.

Local truck part sellers are primarily interested in serving a local customer base, however, it will probably surprise us to realize that there may be more local supply than we realize. A good online B2B site should offer this information as part of its overall offering to become a more complete resource for the Truck Parts buyer. B2B for Heavy Duty Truck parts is evolving but like other industries, it will certainly become an important method for parts procurement. As B2B offers more and more solutions, more and more buyers will adopt it as a preferred means of finding and buying even local parts.