By Jenni Wirtz | 25 April, 2017
Electronic Parts Catalogue Updated
Prominent supplier of premium quality components, First Line Ltd, rejuvenated its WebCat online portals for distributors last year, which have been widely praised by users since their full introduction.
Designed to be a global parts identification solution, both WebCats link the company’s impressive portfolio of components to vehicle specific applications, with the First Line catalogue (http://webcat.firstline.co.uk/Home) reflecting the MAM vehicle data index and the Borg & Beck (http://webcat.borgandbeck.com/Home) version reflecting TecDoc. A continuous commitment by the Product and Cataloguing team has resulted in the vehicle make and model coverage increasing by over 60% in order to cover more car parc globally.
The Product and Cataloguing team work continuously to guarantee the vehicle data is maintained to the correct standards and all the necessary information required to accurately identify a product is held within the system. However, accurate identification for certain products can still be quite challenging, therefore to further aid the efficient identification of many of its product groups, First Line have added technical layout drawings for Turbo Hoses and Engine Mountings, plus 360° imagery for Water Pumps and Rotating Electrics. These key features have been shown to reduce look-up time significantly.
In response to customer demand, the latest feature to be added to the cataloguing site is the ability to create a PDF catalogue. In just a few minutes and dependent on broadband speed and size of the download, catalogues can be tailored to a specific product group and vehicle manufacturer. For example, if you only wanted a catalogue of Steering Parts for Land Rover, there is now a solution for this. The PDF functionality is limited to loyal stockists only and is applicable for several ranges, including Boots & Gaiters, Clutch, Dry Braking, Cooling, Filters, Rotating Electrics, Steering & Suspension and Turbo Hoses, more catalogues will be added over time.
Another new feature added that can aid the correct identification of Steering & Suspension components is the new positioning layout images. Heavily requested by their customers, this new addition lines up the images in the way that they are positioned on the vehicle. This is a major improvement and means distributors can easily identify the correct components when receiving an enquiry.
Final points to note are that as well as the ability to openly search a comprehensive database of competitor cross references, loyal stockists who have registered for the site and have a log in, benefit from the ability to search by OE reference. In terms of viewability, the new WebCats have been optimised for the latest browsers and are also fully available on mobile devices, such as phones and tablets so that products can be identified easily from anywhere.
Today, First Line’s cataloguing solution is an exceptional tool for its distributors and with an extensive product portfolio that contains in excess of 37,000 references, which are kept under constant review and consistently developed and extended, it’s no wonder why so many choose First Line as their first choice for vehicle parts.