Automotive Aftermarket Leader J.C. Whitney &Co. Upgrades and Expands E-commerce Site at www.jcwhitney.com.Automotive Writers CHICAGO--(AutomotiveWire)--Feb. 01, 2000 J.C. Whitney &Co., the world's largest direct marketer of automotive parts and accessories, moves into a new phase of e-commerce e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory transfers. success by significantly retooling its www.jcwhitney.com website. First introduced in Fall 1997, the newly revamped site incorporates sweeping changes in navigation and design, as well as an expanded selection of products for repairing, maintaining, customizing and restoring virtually any vehicle. &uot;We've rebuilt www.jcwhitney.com to bring our customers the best possible Web experience in automotive parts and accessories,&uot; stated company president Tim Ford. Focus group research with customers, intensive browsing See browse. of other websites and a comprehensive survey of the latest Web-related technology led JC Whitney J.C. Whitney is the largest direct marketer of auto parts and accessories. The company began life in 1915 as The Warshawsky Company, a scrap metal yard on the South Side of Chicago. The company's founder was a Lithuanian immigrant named Israel Warshawsky. to establish a comprehensive plan of improvements to their flagship site. &uot;Visitors to www.jcwhitney.com will find it's easier than ever to browse (1) To view the contents of a file or a group of files. Browser programs generally let you view data by scrolling through the documents or databases. In a database program, the browse mode often lets you edit the data. See Web browser. or buy online, without the time-consuming detours that many websites impose. We've introduced keyword mapping so that customers can instantly locate the products that interest them, down to a specific make and model of car, truck, motorcycle motorcycle, motor vehicle whose design is based on the bicycle. The German inventor Gottlieb Daimler is generally credited with building the first practical motorcycle in 1885. The motorcycle did not become dependable and popular, however, until after 1900. or other vehicle,&uot; explained Ed Bjorncrantz, vice president, marketing. One exclusive feature of the revamped site is its ability to distinguish between generic and make/model-specific product requests. Web customers who request information on generic, one-SKU-fits-all products are spared from having to enter data on vehicle make and model, eliminating unnecessary keyboard entry and screen time. In addition, visitors are not required to register in order to either browse or buy at www.jcwhitney.com. &uot;We've re-engineered our website entirely from the customer's point of view,&uot; emphasized Rich Lange, manager of Internet operations and development. &uot;With a more innovative use of technology, JC Whitney Web customers can get where they want to go, easier and faster.&uot; From its inception, www.jcwhitney.com has displayed a broad mix of products. The newly revamped site expands that offering, covering a wider range of vehicle types, makes and models; more top brand names; and incorporates improved product presentation throughout. &uot;We're getting close to having our entire assortment assortment /as·sort·ment/ (ah-sort´ment) the random distribution of nonhomologous chromosomes to daughter cells in metaphase of the first meiotic division. as·sort·ment n. online: more than 55,000 items representing 4.2 million automotive applications,&uot; confirmed Gene Geiger, vice president merchandising merchandising Element of marketing concerned especially with the sale of goods and services to customers. One aspect of merchandising is advertising, which aims to capture the interest of the segment of the population most likely to buy the product. . &uot;In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , customers can order any product JC Whitney offers at www.jcwhitney.com, whether it already appears online or is currently offered only through our catalogs.&uot; Through the site's &uot;Find It&uot; service, customers can request assistance in locating products not listed on the site, or request a custom search through the huge JC Whitney vendor base. As has always been the case, JC Whitney's website customers are served by JC Whitney's staff of more than 300 customer service and tech-assist automotive professionals who work out of the company's 360,000 square foot Operations Center The facility or location on an installation, base, or facility used by the commander to command, control, and coordinate all crisis activities. See also base defense operations center; command center. in LaSalle, Illinois. The LaSalle facility includes state-of-the-art communications, inventory management and shipping systems to help move millions of orders per year. &uot;JC Whitney is a true click-and-mortar company serving customers through multiple channels -- the Internet, phone, fax and mail -- out of our LaSalle, Illinois facility, where we stock our massive physical inventory. This is the same facility which houses our 24-hour customer service operation,&uot; remarked Ed Bjorncrantz. &uot;Our customers appreciate our wide selection of products, as well as our 84 years of experience in the automotive business.&uot; As JC Whitney refines its approach to e-commerce, it has also expanded its Internet contact team for faster response to customer e-mail requests. The team answers over 4,000 e-mails each week, responding to order status questions within two hours during regular business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a , 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday. Other questions are routinely answered within 24 hours. &uot;We are well ahead of most other Internet sites in responsiveness,&uot; stated John Armstrong
John Armstrong (October 13, 1717 – March 9, 1795) was an American civil engineer and soldier who served as a major general in the Revolutionary War. , vice president customer service. &uot;We've put our team to the test against other websites and are proud of their response time.&uot; The retooling of www.jcwhitney.com and the recent launch of www.phatspeed.com, a site dedicated to the fast-growing sport compact market, follow JC Whitney's August 1999 completion of a five-year restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). plan. Under that plan, the firm has developed a new information services See Information Systems. structure, built a new call center and a new distribution center, restructured its management team and moved its headquarters staff to new space. &uot;JC Whitney enters the 21st century fully prepared to meet the full range of needs our customers have for quality products, top brand names, responsive service and excellent value,&uot; observed president Tim Ford. &uot;Our product mix, warehouse systems, communications network The transmission channels interconnecting all client and server stations as well as all supporting hardware and software. , selling channels, marketing methodology and working environment have all been upgraded to make us a more effective and efficient organization. We look forward to delivering a whole new level of customer satisfaction to everyone who does business with JC Whitney, regardless of how they shop with us.&uot; Since 1915, generations of auto enthusiasts have relied on JC Whitney for brand-name parts and accessories. Known the world over as the source for &uot;everything automotive,&uot; JC Whitney maintains the largest inventory in the industry: more than 55,000 items covering more than 4.2 million automotive applications, from the latest model year back to the 1920s. JC Whitney offers products for virtually any vehicle -- automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, off-road and recreational vehicles -- through its comprehensive family of general and vehicle-specific catalogs, and on the World Wide Web at www.jcwhitney.com and at www.phatspeed.com. Site images and logo art are available on diskette The official name for the floppy disk. See floppy disk. diskette - floppy disk or can be provided via e-mail. To request, please contact Kerry Gingrich at kgingrich@jcwhitney.com -- THANK YOU. |
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