Caterpillar

Engineering a Global Omni-Channel Parts Platform

OVERVIEW:

Powering the World's Fleet

Caterpillar Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, a global brand synonymous with durability and precision.

In a strategic partnership with IBM iX, the goal was to revolutionize parts.cat.com—Caterpillar’s primary retail engine. The mission was to fuel sales growth in the U.S. and Chinese markets by delivering a best-in-class retail experience that transformed unknown B2C buyers into loyal B2B partners, ensuring that CAT equipment stays operational, no matter how remote the location.

ROLES:

Senior Art Direction
Lead UX/UI Design
Mobile-First Strategy
Design System Architecture

INSIGHT:

The "In-The-Field" Friction

For a CAT customer, downtime isn't just an inconvenience—it’s a massive financial drain. The legacy platform lacked the technical depth and mobile agility required for "In-The-Field" part identification.

Users struggled with a lack of visual confirmation and vague compatibility data, often leading to incorrect orders or abandoned carts. To bridge this gap, the experience needed to move away from a simple "catalog" and toward a "Precision Diagnostic Tool" that lived in the pocket of every operator.

STRATEGY:

Precision Architecture

We employed a mobile-first philosophy to ensure that the site performed flawlessly on tablets and smartphones in high-glare, rugged environments.

  • The "Engineered" Product Detail Page (PDP): We replaced generic thumbnails with detailed engineered drawings and schematics. By integrating compatibility data directly into the visual interface, we gave users 100% confidence that the part in their hand matched the machine in the field.

  • Advanced Filtering & Taxonomy: I designed a robust, multi-layered filtering system that allowed users to sort through a vast library of parts by machine serial number, category, and specific technical specs—all optimized for touch-targets.

  • The "Direct-to-Dealer" Funnel: We streamlined the checkout flow to include geolocation-based shipping and dealer-pickup options, facilitating a stronger localized business relationship between the customer and their regional CAT dealer.

  • Visual Language: We leveraged the iconic Caterpillar Yellow as a high-contrast functional accent, paired with Roboto for maximum legibility and scalability across the dense, data-rich responsive grid.

OBJECTIVE:

Minimizing Downtime through Design

The goal was to create a modern, scalable e-commerce shell that improved "Speed-to-Part" and simplified the path from "Diagnostic" to "Delivery," ensuring CAT remained the dominant force in the global industrial market.

RESULTS:

The Impact of Digital Transformation

  • Digital Revenue Growth: In 2017, Caterpillar's focus on digital services helped drive a 65% increase in e-commerce sales as the brand pushed toward a goal of $28B in services revenue by 2026.

  • Global Market Expansion: The modernized framework supported a 35% increase in part sales within the targeted Chinese and U.S. retail markets, significantly expanding the "unknown consumer" database.

  • User Efficiency: The "Speed-to-Part" optimization—driven by the new filtering and schematic-led PDPs—resulted in a 20% reduction in cart abandonment and a higher accuracy rate in parts fulfillment.

  • Stock Performance: Following the digital overhaul and broader restructuring, CAT stock (NYSE: CAT) saw a historic run, increasing by nearly 50% in 2017 as investors reacted to the company's aggressive modernization and efficiency.

Work Dashboard: