Boart (ASX: BLY) says its new website for ordering drilling tools and parts online allows customers to place orders, check local availability, and find detailed information and pictures of a wide selection of its products.

"Believed to be the first to make online ordering available in this product category, Boart Longyear has already seen success with My Drill Store as it beta tested the site with customers in a number of regions," the company said this week in a statement.

"Customers can purchase with confidence, knowing they are also fully supported by their local customer service representatives."

Amazon.com launched an online shopping site in 1995 and eBay emerged in 1995. The tech or dot.com boom from 1997 to 2001, resulting in an international investment bubble that spectacularly burst, saw many online retail names appear and then disappear, though some re-emerged when web retail and delivery models were refined.

The era saw the launch of businesses such as global mining e-procurement platform Quadrem, set up by 14 international mining majors in 2000, which was bought by California-based Ariba in 2011 and then became part of Germany's SAP.

Accenture's 2017 Digital Technology in Mining report says "digital transformation" could unlock US$190 billion in value across the mining industry over the next 10 years.