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Update 2019/12/28

This update includes a number of new features and enhancements, as well as some aesthetic changes. Please forward this email along to any users who you feel may be interested in knowing what will change.

A little polish

The most visible change in this update will be noticed in the look & feel of the catalogue. We have adopted some more modern design concepts and adjusted the colour scheme of the catalogue. We have not made any dramatic changes to the way you can look up product, but have added in some additional functionality to what was already available. These changes will be detailed further below.

Additional Users

When autoecat.com was first launched in 2001, a single user account was good for the majority of our customers. As with everything, we have outgrown this restriction and, as a result, have updated autoecat to now allow multiple users by account. This allows multiple users to be logged in at the same time, for the same account, without conflicts in vehicle lookups, stock order listings, or shopping cart items. For any of your larger shop customers this will be a very useful function to have. Not to worry though, all of the current user accounts will still stay as they are. Moving forward, your in-house catalogue manager as well as your customer will have the tools within dealer maintenance and user profile to expand on the legacy accounts.

A picture is worth 1000 parts

We are very excited to announce the beta release of our vector graphics and integrated part lookup via picture. Signing up for this premium service will give your counter-staff a leg up when trying to find those hard to describe add-on products. By licensing the most comprehensive set of interactive vector images on the market, autoecat is striving to take all of the guesswork out of finding products, ensuring you can find the right part the first time. What the feature will provide is a small link within the 'multiples' search screen and on all application listing headers that will pop up an interactive, application specific, image of that product's assembly. This means, along with that coil spring, you can also view the various bumpers, mounts, and bolts that are associated. For more information on the cost of this new premium feature and for a demo, give us a call.

Lookup vehicles with your keyboard

Your users will now have the option to search for their Year/Make/Model with their keyboard. Within the year field, they need only type the last 2 digits of the year. For the Make/Model, simply begin typing the name. As soon as a match is found, the catalogue will make the selection for you. This feature has been built on the current selection method, so any users who want to still use their mouse will see no change.

We have gone back through and updated our related parts database to provide users with a more concise list of related parts. When selecting applications, your related parts drop down, shown in the product headings, should now be more accurate to the specific vehicle you are looking up.

Order Uploads

Within the scratch pad / stock order page, users now have the ability to upload items/quantities directly to the scratch-pad for quick import to their shopping cart. Just click the 'Upload' button on the scratch-pad page to get started

Parts from all angles

More and more vendors are now providing us with interactive 360 degree images of their products. With this release, you will begin to notice our 360 icon in the footer of the image viewer and within the product information page (accessible by clicking on the part number within the catalogue). The images can be accessed via the product detail page and allow you to manually rotate the image and zoom in on specific features.

Mobile Users

We have implemented a number of changes to allow your users to more easily navigate the application lookup when on a phone or tablet. Changes have been made to all screens involved in the Year / Make / Model / Application lookup process to be more responsive on these mobile devices.

VIN Codes on invoices

For orders where a VIN is used to look up the vehicle, the VIN code will be passed back to and printed on the COUNTERPOINT invoice for reference.

Retail Users

The final update to autoecat introduces a 'Retail' type customer account. This account allows for public users to access the catalogue (via a link on your website) and place orders for pickup. These retail pickup orders are placed in a queue on the system that can be recalled from the invoicing screen, using the current Shift-F6 function and their email to access the order for invoicing.

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