Visual Part Finder: Bring Your Spare Parts Catalog to Life Online

The gap in spare parts ecommerce today

For many manufacturers and OEMs, the spare parts identification process still lives largely offline. Equipment data sits in PDF files. Buyers send photos of broken parts with vague descriptions. Support teams spend hours triaging requests, cross-referencing serial numbers, and manually guiding buyers to the right component.

Even in more mature digital setups, the missing link is the same: the relationship between a customer, their specific equipment, and the spare parts that belong to it. Without that structure, buyers are left guessing and sellers are left managing the fallout.

The result is a cycle that's hard to break: buyers don't trust the webstore for parts identification, so they go offline. And because they go offline, the digital channel never gets the chance to prove its value.

Visual Part Finder breaks that cycle. 

What is Visual Part Finder?

Visual Part Finder is a new widget for Sana Commerce Cloud that transforms spare part identification into a structured, visual, self-service experience, built directly into your webstore.

Instead of sending buyers into a generic catalog, it gives them a visual, guided journey that mirrors how spare parts are identified in the real world: by equipment, by assembly, by component, all the way down to the exact part they need. 

How it works for buyers

Buyers start by locating their equipment, searching by serial number or browsing their assigned equipment list. From there, they navigate through a structured equipment tree, drilling down through assemblies and sub-components until they reach the right level. At each step, an interactive exploded view shows exactly where each part sits within the equipment, with clickable hotspots that connect the visual directly to the product and add-to-cart option. 

How it works for sellers

On the seller side, Visual Part Finder is built for manageability at scale. Equipment data is imported via XML, making it straightforward to bring existing structures into the system. Exploded diagrams are uploaded directly to the widget, and hotspots can be created manually or detected automatically — thanks to AI-assisted hotspot detection that reads your diagrams and suggests assignments, significantly reducing setup time.

As your catalog grows or equipment changes, updates follow the same streamlined process: upload, verify, publish. 

Key capabilities at a glance

• Structured equipment navigation

  Buyers navigate multi-layered equipment trees from the top-level machine down to individual components, with a clear sense of where they are at every step.

• Interactive exploded views

  Clickable hotspots on exploded diagrams let buyers visually confirm the right part before adding it to the cart — eliminating the guesswork that leads to costly return orders.

• Serial number search

  Buyers can search directly by serial number to immediately locate their specific equipment, without browsing through unrelated catalogs.

• AI-assisted hotspot detection

  Automatically detect and suggest hotspots during setup, reducing the manual effort of building and maintaining exploded views across large catalogs.

• Stock visibility and add-to-cart

  Buyers see real-time stock information and can add parts directly to the cart from within the widget, keeping the entire journey in one place. 

• XML-based data management

  Import, update, and delete equipment data using structured XML uploads, making it easier to keep your catalog accurate as equipment evolves. 

The business case for moving spare parts online

When buyers can identify and order the right part themselves — quickly, visually, and with confidence — the impact goes well beyond a better user experience.

• Higher online conversion

  Buyers who can validate their selection visually are more likely to complete the order online, rather than abandoning the webstore in favor of a phone call or email.

• Lower support workload

  Self-service identification means fewer inbound requests for your parts specialists. Teams spend less time on manual lookups and more time on higher-value work.

• Fewer order errors

  Visual confirmation reduces the risk of wrong-part orders, which means fewer returns, fewer delays, and fewer conversations that erode customer trust.

• Stronger digital adoption

  Every successful self-service experience reinforces the value of your webstore. Buyers who find the right part quickly come back — and they bring their colleagues. 

Now available in beta

Visual Part Finder is launching in beta on April 9, 2026, available across all Sana Commerce Cloud packages. The beta release is currently open to a select group of invited customers as we refine the experience ahead of broader availability.

If you're interested in being among the first to bring Visual Part Finder to your webstore, you can sign up to join the list for early access.

Additional capabilities, including customer-specific equipment views, price visibility in parts lists, pan and zoom for exploded diagrams, and part search within equipment are planned for upcoming releases later in 2026.