It began more than three years ago as a posting location for the used equipment inventory of the Ingersoll-Rand Equipment Store, but www.irusedequipment.com has evolved into an online used equipment showroom and continues its customer-focused evolution.

“The ultimate sales goal of this tool is to give our used equipment customer the strength of Ingersoll-Rand's entire national distribution network, while at the same time help the distribution move their used assets,” says Dave Pietrzykowski, vice president of Used Equipment IRES.

Users are able to navigate the site via a menu on the homepage. A Quick Search tool is also available that allows users to search for a particular type of equipment by a specific manufacturer. One can access dozens of used Ingersoll-Rand light towers, for example, with three quick clicks.

Equipment listed on the site includes the unit's specifications — such as model, serial number, year and hours. Photos are included, when available, and a list of performed repairs is also referenced where applicable.

“The dynamic functionality of the site is constantly developing and will continue to offer more options,” Pietrzykowski says.

Traffic to the site has increased dramatically in the past five months, up from 2,000 visitors a month to more than 12,000 today. The company is trying to encourage dealers to use the site as an extension of their own resources. “If the customer doesn't buy it from us, he will get it from someone,” Pietrzykowski says. “We don't want to get left out of the deal because we didn't have what the customer was looking for.”

The next major phase will be to integrate the independent dealers into the system and develop a channel-friendly pricing structure. With the exception of the large capital equipment, all units have a suggested retail price and dealers must call for their discount on a specific piece of equipment.

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