TRW Selects Aftermarket E-Commerce Provider for Europe

Intershop Communications, Inc. has been selected by TRW’s automotive aftermarket business to take its sales and distribution channels online in eight European countries.
As the chosen e-business platform, Intershop Enfinity provides a quickly deployable, high-performance, scalable and extensible foundation on which to build electronic relationships with customers and trading partners.
TRW ‘s aftermarket business, part of TRW Chassis Systems, which provides braking, steering and suspension systems, as well as commercial steering and engine components, is a supplier to the aftermarket of braking, steering and suspension and electrical equipment.
The integrated e-business platform will enable the automation and streamlining of TRW’s sales and account management activities, significantly reducing administration and transaction costs, according to the company.
Through its deployment, TRW expects to achieve savings of around $1 million (U.S.) per year in operational costs. TRW’s 30,000 customers in Europe will benefit from having 24/7 access to an online catalog of more than 60,000 products, which can be used to identify needed parts by cross referencing with 38,000 listed vehicles. Orders can then be placed and tracked online, including customers’ repeat orders, requests for stock quotations and the placement of express orders.
TRW will launch its service in the second quarter of 2001 in four languages: French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. There are also plans to rollout future versions of the service in German and Russian.
TRW’s Electronic Online Services is being deployed in France, Spain, Germany, UK, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Russia.