Siemens launches e-commerce pilot trial

Siemens has started a pilot trial of an e-commerce operation that will eventually allow users to check prices, place orders and track deliveries of its controls, drives and low voltage products.

The Siemens Mall pilot scheme is with Underwoods, one of the company`s largest UK distributors. Underwoods personnel will use it to track the progress of their orders on line. If the pilot runs smoothly, the on-line Mall will be opened up to Siemens customers later this year.

The service will be able to suggest the optimum system to meet a customer`s requirements and will generate a parts list. Prices will be given, with discounts where appropriate. Initially, Siemens plans to limit the service to customers approved by its salesforce.

Unlike some of its rivals, Siemens does not intend to offer credit card purchasing - initially, at least. In Germany, where the e-commerce service has been live since April, Siemens is already doing 12% of its business electronically.

Georg Dintenfelder, who is responsible for the company`s global e-commerce operation, reckons that electronic orders cost only one-third as much to process as traditional orders. The German version of the Siemens Mall has 13,000 pages of information covering 60,000 products.