Evant, O’Reilly Auto Parts developing web-based consumer-demand system
Already using an Evant Inc. web-based system to reduce inventory levels through improved visibility with suppliers, O’Reilly Auto Parts is working with Evant to develop a web-based application that will predict demand for auto parts by gathering and analyzing the types and ages of motor vehicles in regions served by O’Reilly’s 1,020 stores, Michael Williams, O’Reilly’s vice president of information systems, tells InternetRetailer.com.
“We’ll gather vehicle data for a region to help stock auto parts to meet the needs of each region’s vehicle population,” says Williams, who was interviewed at the Retail Systems 2003 Conference & Exposition this week. “It’ll help reduce uncertainty in our product sales forecast.” The system, expected to be launched before year-end, will gather information through a web-based connection with industry databases on vehicle registrations and other records, then analyze the vehicle data with known failure rates of particular auto parts to predict sales, Williams says.
For example, he says, a particular model year of a Chevrolet Impala with a 350-cubic-inch engine might have a high expectation of needing a water pump after 10 years of service. If its web-based system showed a large number of that model and year in a particular region, it would recommend that O’Reilly stock the stores in that region with a large number of water pumps for that type of car.
Williams, noting that Evant co-develops technology applications with customers, says this type of predictive analysis tool could be applied for other types of products, such as apparel, in which case the system would analyze regional demographics and apply known buying habits of different demographic groups of consumers.
Through a supplier visibility and replenishment system developed with Evant, O’Reilly has already improved in-store stock levels and customer service through web-based connections with suppliers, which supports replenishment, Williams says. In addition, though O’Reilly doesn’t operate an e-commerce web site, it lets customers check its web site to see in-store availability of inventory, helping to prevent incidences where customers come into a store only to find a particular product out of stock.
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