Ingram Micro unveils new channel app

Ingram Micro’s resellers can now check pricing and availability and order product anywhere, anytime via their mobile devices, with the launch of iOS and Android apps for the distributor.

Ingram Micro has launched mobile eCommerce apps for iOS and Android devices, in what it believes is a first for the New Zealand IT wholesale channel.

The new apps, available from Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store, allow resellers to search and browse products from Ingram Micro’s eCommerce store, check pricing and availability, order products and track order shipments in real time.

Gary Bigwood, Ingram Micro New Zealand managing director, says providing mobile access to the distributor’s eCommerce services enables resellers to be more productive and respond more quickly to the needs of their customers, whether they’re out on a customer call, at home or on their way to or from the office.

“For resellers to be able to check product pricing and availability and order products on the spot while they’re sitting in a meeting with a customer is a fantastic productivity enhancement and a first for the New Zealand channel as far as we’re aware,” Bigwood says.

He says the distributor looked at the most common functions resellers used online and included that functionality in the apps.

More features are already on the development roadmap and Ingram Micro will continue to enhance the functionality of the mobile apps over the coming months, Bigwood says.

The apps have been tested by a number of resellers as well as Ingram Micro staff, and feedback so far has been ‘very enthusiastic,’ he adds.

“The mobile apps have got some really great time-saving features built in that take advantage of the mobile platform,” Bigwood says.

“For example, you can scan a product barcode using your mobile device’s built-in camera, and the app will check our stock information and take you directly to the product details for that product.”

The apps can be customised to show recommended retail pricing, so resellers can sit down and browse products with customers and show them product specifications, without revealing dealer pricing.

The pricing can also be tailored, by adding the reseller’s margin in a management screen, so the actual pricing for a specific end user can be displayed.

“One of the reasons we rolled out new back-office and eCommerce platforms a couple of years ago was to give us a foundation on which we could build innovation,” Bigwood says.

“These new mobile apps are a really good example of the sorts of things we are able to deliver as a result.”

Bigwood says the company has ‘other exciting things on the way too, but we’ll announce those in due course!’