Intershop Communications, an established provider of e-commerce platforms for global e-business, today announced that Continental AG, the world`s fourth-largest tyre manufacturer and a major supplier to the automotive industry, will use Intershop`s flagship e-commerce platform EnfinityTM to launch its B2C e-commerce initiative, an independent marketplace for tyres. Starting this fall, customers in the US and Sweden will be able to select tyres on the Internet. Other countries will follow soon.
The marketplace will allow customers to conduct a search for the tyre of their choice as well as general research on all tyres available for their vehicle. By fine-tuning their requirements -summer or winter tyres, brand, tyre size etc - a customer can easily obtain an overview of the available tyres.
In addition, the customer will be linked to dealers in the area, who provide mounting services and have the particular tyre on stock. The system then lets customers send non-binding inquiries to the dealer, who contacts the customer within 24 hours to schedule an appointment. Furthermore, the marketplace offers general service information about all tyres, answers to frequently asked questions, along with road and traffic reports and a trip planner. The marketplace built on Enfinity is easily embedded in any type of Internet portal, and will soon be integrated in various automotive portals.
Continental, the most recent company in the automotive industry to deploy Enfinity, was influenced by Intershop`s industry-leading technology and its custom-tailored industry solution. Enfinity has received high marks from Forrester TechRanking for nine consecutive months.
"Beyond Enfinity`s high-level performance, we were impressed by the excellent technical development partnership between our company and Intershop," said Dr Michael Korpiun, head of eBusiness Development for Continental AG. "Together, we managed to create a convincing concept for our marketplace in a very short time.
"The unique component architecture of Enfinity provides the ability to quickly develop custom e-commerce solutions which meet the needs of companies in high-tech, automotive, manufacturing and retail," said Ray Schaaf, president of the Americas for Intershop. "Traditional companies are using the Internet and Enfinity to offer their customers greater selection, price, availability and personalised service."
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