This feature, for example, recently allowed a dealer to place an order on a handheld device while standing in the dealership's stockroom, rather then having to write down the information and later type it in, Ms. Marlow said.
Another upgrade is a shopping cart feature that permits users to put multiple items into the shopping cart before orders are placed. Weblink 1.0 does not offer this feature, Ms. Marlow said.
The newer version also allows toggling among accounts—allowing a company to customize the system if it has multiple users and wants to control which areas they can access.
Weblink 2.0 also has an option that shows the costs of financing. For example, if a tire dealership offers deferred financing, the ordering system can break down this information by six months or 12 months, so customers will know what they are going to pay.
Ms. Marlow said quite a few of K&M's customers already have placed orders through Weblink 2.0, although not as many are doing so using a mobile device. But she expects that to increase.
Another advantage of the system is that it allows users to see K&M's tire inventory “right away,” and to locate a tire at any of the company's 16 warehouses along with the number of days it will take to have the tires shipped to them.
“It's pretty instantaneous,” Ms. Marlow said. “You can see the order before you place it.”
About 60 percent of K&M's orders come in via Weblink, according to K&M Vice President Cheryl Gossard.
Tire dealer Tony Smith, owner of Smith Enterprises in Angola, Ind., called the K&M Weblink system phenomenal. “When you look up inventory and it says they have four tires in Delphos, they've got them,” he said. “…When their inventory shows they have it, they have it.”
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