Attachment selection with new JCB smartphone application.
JCB Attachments has launched a work tool app for the iPhone, making it easier for customers to rapidly locate, choose and purchase the right attachments for their JCB machines. The free download incorporates a dealer locator, an attachment finder by machine type or product group, a Light Equipment viewer and an enquiry function that will send a message directly to the customer’s preferred JCB dealer.
Customers can search for any attachment for a specific JCB machine, or look for the correct machine to power the desired attachment. In either case the JCB app takes the customer through the straightforward selection process, with pictures of the machines and attachments along with product specifications and features.
With the Light Equipment range, that includes hand-held breakers, pumps, earth drills, compaction plates and hydraulic powerpacks, the process is the same, allowing the customer to search for individual tools, providing working weights and operating parameters in clear, easy to read pages with individual photography and specifications.
“The demand is huge. It allows our customers and our dealers to easily identify the required attachments from our entire range,” says Cameron Burnett, General Manager at JCB Attachments.
At each point in the process the customer can tick a box to indicate their interest in the attachment or tool, requesting more information from a dealer. The customer can either send the enquiry to the closest dealer, using the iPhone’s GPS system to determine the three nearest outlets, or they can use a preset dealer as a default for all enquiries.
All information requests are logged within the app, including details of the dealer to which the enquiry has been sent. The app also includes contact details for all JCB dealers in the UK and Ireland, providing customers with telephone numbers, e-mails and addresses that can be uploaded to the phone book within the iPhone. The customer can find directions to a dealer outlet, or e-mail the dealer direct from the page within the app.
Despite JCB Attachments having more than 2,000 individual part numbers for attachments and light tools, there will occasionally be a requirement for an attachment or work tool that JCB currently does not offer. Third party suppliers can apply to JCB Attachments to have their work tools included on the app. If the customer clicks through to the third party, the sales transaction moves to that company, away from the JCB dealer. “This offers an additional solution to our customers through a third party reference,” says Mr Burnett.
There is also the opportunity for customers with an idea for a new product, or a particular job on site for which they require an attachment, to communicate those designs to JCB. The Inventor page provides a way for the customer to send ideas, detailed specifications, images and contact details directly to JCB Attachments.
The content of the app will be regularly updated every five days, ensuring that the very latest equipment is available to customers. Initially the app will be available in English to customers in the UK and Ireland. However it is intended that this will be developed for additional territories in the future. The JCB Attachments app is available now as a free download from the iTunes Store.
