LIVERMORE, CA – Activant Solutions has enhanced its electronic catalog, leveraging original equipment manufacturer product information to improve the timeliness and coverage of aftermarket replacement parts data. This new feature, Activant OE Carry-Forward, is designed to help Activant customers compete more effectively with OE dealerships through significantly expanded coverage of current-model-year and older applications.
The OE Carry-Forward content, available beginning with the November release of Activant eCatalogs, utilizes a proprietary process that analyzes data from OE and aftermarket parts manufacturers and then automatically updates coverage in cases when an existing component has been carried forward to the subsequent model year. As a result, Activant eCatalogs will provide significantly more up-to-date information, particularly for brand-new vehicles. This valuable new feature also helps to eliminate possible coverage gaps for older applications in some manufacturer product lines.
“OE Carry-Forward is an important achievement which is intended to make sure that Activant customers have the best product data and a significant competitive advantage in the automotive aftermarket,” said Tom Aliotti, vice president and general manager of the Activant automotive business. “This new investment in our electronic catalog suite is designed to deliver tangible bottom-line value to our customers, reinforcing our position as the leader in data timeliness, completeness and accuracy.”
OE carry-forward coverage is the latest in a series of first-to-market features of the Activant PartExpert, ePartExpert, LaserCat and ShopCat electronic catalogs. In 2006 Activant launched Active Updates, an Internet-based electronic catalog data delivery service that enables distributors to receive data up to several weeks earlier than previously available through DVD media. Activant also was the first aftermarket eCatalog provider to integrate vehicle identification number (VIN) lookup and decoding functionality into its eCatalogs, and first to introduce a comprehensive graphical eCatalog module – Activant Cover-to-Cover – which features more than 1.8 million parts images and other enhanced content. The company’s aftermarket “data set” comprises millions of parts for more than 60 million applications. Activant receives, verifies and publishes replacement parts data from nearly 1,600 manufacturers.
For more information about Activant, visit: www.activant.com.
