Digi-Key has changed and it is not very good

[helius]

These stupid marketplace things are everywhere now. Amazon, Newegg, even brick  mortar stores.... It seems like retailers just keep jumping on that bandwagon and what is the point? All of these stores acting as storefront for everyone else's products.

The key to understand this trend is that the most profitable corporations in the world (Google, Amazon, Apple) operate two-sided markets. In Google's case, they stand between advertisers and website operators. Amazon's arrangement with sellers is well-known. Apple stands between app developers and App Store users. They connect producers with purchasers and take a slice of the action (an old school racketeer would call it a vig) without taking on any business risk. This is why every company wants to ape this pattern. Controlling a two-sided market is the ultimate asperation of contemporary rentier capitalism.

[james_s]

The key to understand this trend is that the most profitable corporations in the world (Google, Amazon, Apple) operate two-sided markets. In Google's case, they stand between advertisers and website operators. Amazon's arrangement with sellers is well-known. Apple stands between app developers and App Store users. They connect producers with purchasers and take a slice of the action (an old school racketeer would call it a vig) without taking on any business risk. This is why every company wants to ape this pattern. Controlling a two-sided market is the ultimate asperation of contemporary rentier capitalism.

But the result is I give up in frustration and I go shop elsewhere. I see all the usual Chinese widgets on Amazon being sold at a markup so I go buy them from DX, Aliexpress, or other Chinese sellers directly. I search for something at a store and it comes up with all this marketplace crap so I go search for it somewhere else, hoping to find somewhere with a better signal to noise ratio. Places like Newegg that I formerly went directly to in many cases without even considering other less known sellers have now been degraded to the point that I'm much less likely to go there. It's a big race to the bottom.

[SilverSolder]

The key to understand this trend is that the most profitable corporations in the world (Google, Amazon, Apple) operate two-sided markets. In Google's case, they stand between advertisers and website operators. Amazon's arrangement with sellers is well-known. Apple stands between app developers and App Store users. They connect producers with purchasers and take a slice of the action (an old school racketeer would call it a vig) without taking on any business risk. This is why every company wants to ape this pattern. Controlling a two-sided market is the ultimate asperation of contemporary rentier capitalism.

But the result is I give up in frustration and I go shop elsewhere. I see all the usual Chinese widgets on Amazon being sold at a markup so I go buy them from DX, Aliexpress, or other Chinese sellers directly. I search for something at a store and it comes up with all this marketplace crap so I go search for it somewhere else, hoping to find somewhere with a better signal to noise ratio. Places like Newegg that I formerly went directly to in many cases without even considering other less known sellers have now been degraded to the point that I'm much less likely to go there. It's a big race to the bottom.

There are still a lot of naive buyers that just go ahead and overpay.   That's why everything is too expensive, from housing to cars to everything else -  it is all because naive buyers are willing to pay whatever the bank (or credit card company) will lend them...  the limit to their spending is literally only held back by the limits on their credit.

[jfiresto]

So why are Digikey's prices now higher compared to some other stocking distributors in traditionally less competitive markets? They did not used to be. Is it really because of their credit crazed customers? I am merely curious.

[SilverSolder]

So why are Digikey's prices now higher compared to some other stocking distributors in traditionally less competitive markets? They did not used to be. Is it really because of their credit crazed customers? I am merely curious.

Put it this way:  If nobody was buying at the posted prices -  would they stay at that level?

In our system, it is the seller's job to set the price as high as possible, and it is the buyer's job to find the lowest price!  If buyers don't care about finding the lowest price...   what happens?

[james_s]

There are still a lot of naive buyers that just go ahead and overpay.   That's why everything is too expensive, from housing to cars to everything else -  it is all because naive buyers are willing to pay whatever the bank (or credit card company) will lend them...  the limit to their spending is literally only held back by the limits on their credit.

It's not even about the money for me. When I shop at a place like DigiKey, Amazon, Newegg, etc I do so mostly because I can be reasonably confident that I will get quality goods that are accurately described, properly stored and handled, that will arrive in a timely manner and if I experience a problem the seller will stand behind it. None of this applies for the marketplace stuff, the products and service don't necessarily live up to the standards of the vendor I think I'm shopping with, and if I experience a problem I have to jump through more hoops to get it resolved. If I buy something from Amazon for example and it is actually sold by some random seller that screws me, this reflects badly on Amazon and degrades my overall experience with them.

Imagine going to a fancy restaurant and having a bunch items on the menu that say in small print "fulfilled by McDonalds", now you have to scrutinize everything on the menu and make sure everything you order is all coming from the place you think it is, otherwise you might have to wait a long time for one of the items to come, the quality might not be what you expect and you probably paid twice as much for that order of fries than if you had just gone to McDonalds directly. The marketplace degrades the overall customer experience.

[helius]

Imagine going to a fancy restaurant and having a bunch items on the menu that say in small print "fulfilled by McDonalds", now you have to scrutinize everything on the menu and make sure everything you order is all coming from the place you think it is, otherwise you might have to wait a long time for one of the items to come, the quality might not be what you expect and you probably paid twice as much for that order of fries than if you had just gone to McDonalds directly.

Oh boy, wait until you find out about Sysco!

[SilverSolder]

[...] small print "fulfilled by McDonalds" [...]

Brilliant!

Some buyers are willing to pay a higher price for the benefits of buying from a high quality vendor.  And if that vendor then drops the quality level to that of the cheap competition, they will no longer be willing to pay as much and are more likely to look at alternatives.

But companies like Digikey are relying on the fact that a majority of customers will probably end up paying top dollar for the McDonald's product, without knowing any better...   they will hope that the customer experience isn't too terrible overall...   and they will hope that people like you or I just check the appropriate box when doing our searches!

[rsjsouza]

[...] small print "fulfilled by McDonalds" [...]

Brilliant!

Some buyers are willing to pay a higher price for the benefits of buying from a high quality vendor.  And if that vendor then drops the quality level to that of the cheap competition, they will no longer be willing to pay as much and are more likely to look at alternatives.
But companies like Digikey are relying on the fact that a majority of customers will probably end up paying top dollar for the McDonald's product, without knowing any better...   they will hope that the customer experience isn't too terrible overall...   and they will hope that people like you or I just check the appropriate box when doing our searches!

Maybe or maybe not. TBH, fulfilling a product at a markup where the vendor is well known for a good return policy, warranty, trust with online payments, physical presence is something done for eons now. IMO that is what the vendors are trying to leverage with the "marketplace" model.

However, this is partially fulfilled by eBay and, more recently, by Aliexpress and Banggood, which changed the game for the western market by reducing the risk to access the McDonald's product. This is particularly true for the transnational transactions.

BTW, brands with local presence operate on this game a lot longer: Greenlee, Voltcraft, Reed, B&K Precision, Commercial Electric, just to name a few in our trade.

[SilverSolder]

[...] small print "fulfilled by McDonalds" [...]

Brilliant!

Some buyers are willing to pay a higher price for the benefits of buying from a high quality vendor.  And if that vendor then drops the quality level to that of the cheap competition, they will no longer be willing to pay as much and are more likely to look at alternatives.
But companies like Digikey are relying on the fact that a majority of customers will probably end up paying top dollar for the McDonald's product, without knowing any better...   they will hope that the customer experience isn't too terrible overall...   and they will hope that people like you or I just check the appropriate box when doing our searches!

Maybe or maybe not. TBH, fulfilling a product at a markup where the vendor is well known for a good return policy, warranty, trust with online payments, physical presence is something done for eons now. IMO that is what the vendors are trying to leverage with the "marketplace" model.

However, this is partially fulfilled by eBay and, more recently, by Aliexpress and Banggood, which changed the game for the western market by reducing the risk to access the McDonald's product. This is particularly true for the transnational transactions.

BTW, brands with local presence operate on this game a lot longer: Greenlee, Voltcraft, Reed, B&K Precision, Commercial Electric, just to name a few in our trade.

It helps having a local presence, especially if they keep stock as well -  saving a week or two in shipping can be worth money.

[Ysjoelfir]

I was wondering what all this is about, as it seemed to work the last time I was browsing digikey extensively (=for more than 5 minutes to look up a part I know). Now... well... take a look. 
There are several misaligned texts, the stupid marketplace thing changed from having to select "exclude" to having to unselect "include" (    ), and in general the UI feels slow, compared to some days ago.

I realy wonder what incompetent person they hired, after searching that: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/jobs/digi-key-search-product-owner/

[ataradov]

Oh yeah, I too set custom fonts and minimum font size and the "design" looks like crap with shit overlapping.

This is what you get for not using standard controls. But DK does not care, so there is no real point in complaining.

With web we lost the battle for common sense. Now we have to deal with tons of JS blat and slow load times. And people that program all that don't even realize how slow their stuff is, since they grew up looking at slow stuff.

[james_s]

I was wondering what all this is about, as it seemed to work the last time I was browsing digikey extensively (=for more than 5 minutes to look up a part I know). Now... well... take a look. 
There are several misaligned texts, the stupid marketplace thing changed from having to select "exclude" to having to unselect "include" (    ), and in general the UI feels slow, compared to some days ago.

I realy wonder what incompetent person they hired, after searching that: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/jobs/digi-key-search-product-owner/

"This position will lead agile teams"

Ok well that explains the constant churn and breaking stuff that was working perfectly for years.

"We have recently upgraded to Elasticsearch, React, Node, and have quite a bit of .NET C# infrastructure"

That explains the sluggish performance and generally bloated feel. If they really wanted to make the site work well, they'd throw all that out and go back to whatever they had 10 years ago because it worked just fine back then.

I bet they hired people who call themselves "full stack developers" who were taught how to build social media sites and other bloated consumer junk. Any day now I expect to see a "share what you just bought on Facebook!" link hovering on the page following me around 

[E-Design]

So why are Digikey's prices now higher compared to some other stocking distributors in traditionally less competitive markets? They did not used to be. Is it really because of their credit crazed customers? I am merely curious.

To me, Digikey has ALWAYS been higher priced.  Border lining on highway robbery if you ask me. However, they fit a really important role - buying low quantities of almost anything with fast shipping (US anyways)

So its worth it sometimes - especially in a corporate setting where saving a few dollars (or hundreds) doesnt matter as much as having those few things in your hands TOMORROW.


I also agree the website changes are for the worst - and now much more buggy.

[james_s]

I also agree the website changes are for the worst - and now much more buggy.

Get used to it. One of the mantras you hear floating around in most agile shops is something along the lines of "move fast and break stuff", they advocate frequent changes and pushing everything to the bleeding edge, don't worry about bugs, we'll fix that "later" when customers start to complain about it.

[SilverSolder]

So why are Digikey's prices now higher compared to some other stocking distributors in traditionally less competitive markets? They did not used to be. Is it really because of their credit crazed customers? I am merely curious.

To me, Digikey has ALWAYS been higher priced.  Border lining on highway robbery if you ask me. However, they fit a really important role - buying low quantities of almost anything with fast shipping (US anyways)  [...]

Kind of the electronics version of McMaster-Carr.

[KE5FX]

I was wondering what all this is about, as it seemed to work the last time I was browsing digikey extensively (=for more than 5 minutes to look up a part I know). Now... well... take a look. 
There are several misaligned texts, the stupid marketplace thing changed from having to select "exclude" to having to unselect "include" (    ), and in general the UI feels slow, compared to some days ago.

I realy wonder what incompetent person they hired, after searching that: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/jobs/digi-key-search-product-owner/

That's a disturbing ad, all right.  "Wanted: Electrical engineer, strong background in industrial chemical processes required.  Experience in fireworks manufacturing helpful.  Applications should be sent to NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas." 

[tooki]

... the stupid marketplace thing changed from having to select "exclude" to having to unselect "include" (    )

Well in this, they made a change for the better. Excluding is a “negative” action, and requiring one to select a checkbox to do a negative action requires slightly more cognitive effort than having the selected checkbox mean the “positive” action (“include”). (Remember that in the rest of the search interface, you select the things you want, and unselect the things you don’t want. So having the box be “include” is more consistent.) Of course in a Boolean truth table they’re the exact same thing, but this is something that’s well understood in usability research and design.

I realy wonder what incompetent person they hired, after searching that: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/jobs/digi-key-search-product-owner/

Yikes. Yeah, somebody’s head rolled, there’s no way this timing is a coincidence!

[ataradov]

So having the box be “include” is more consistent.

Having the only checkbox enabled by default is also inconsistent. Yet here we are.

There is no need to justify marketing driven decisions. They don't care about anything but money. And in a short term it will probably generate more money.

[tooki]

So having the box be “include” is more consistent.

Having the only checkbox enabled by default is also inconsistent. Yet here we are.

There is no need to justify marketing driven decisions. They don't care about anything but money. And in a short term it will probably generate more money.

There is no inconsistency in having some checkboxes selected by default, because that’s not something where we need consistency. There is no added cognitive load to identifying the state of a checkbox, whereas there is added cognitive load to parsing the meaning of the state and the title. That’s why, for example, a default-selected checkbox titled “Autocorrect” would be superior to a default-cleared checkbox titled “Don’t autocorrect”. (Never mind the “geniuses” who have the wording change along with the checkbox state, ensuring confusion...)

I worked in usability for years, in particular with software interface terminology. And indeed, sometimes the best result (easiest to use) was achieved by reversing the logic of a control.

None of what I said about this has anything to do with marketing.

[VooDust]

Get used to it. One of the mantras you hear floating around in most agile shops is something along the lines of "move fast and break stuff", they advocate frequent changes and pushing everything to the bleeding edge, don't worry about bugs, we'll fix that "later" when customers start to complain about it.

I'm a SW dev and I hate this mantra so much. It's the reason why for over 2 years I can't get a reliable connection between my apps and my TV. Every 2 weeks something else is breaking. Yet the HW stays the same. Go figure...

It's just another way of saying "I have never worked on something that was truly critical or of any significance to life or death whatsoever".

The worst part is that the rest of the industry tries to mimic these big players even when it doesn't make any f* sense.

[tooki]

Yep. And then there’s Agile (the formal methodology) and “agile” (the “oh cool! We can cast these methodology shackles off and just do whatever and justify it as ‘agile’!” methodology). And I hazard that probably half of places adopting agile are the latter, and the other half think they’re doing the former, but in practice are doing the latter anyway...

[james_s]

Yep. And then there’s Agile (the formal methodology) and “agile” (the “oh cool! We can cast these methodology shackles off and just do whatever and justify it as ‘agile’!” methodology). And I hazard that probably half of places adopting agile are the latter, and the other half think they’re doing the former, but in practice are doing the latter anyway...

That's exactly it. I've worked in multiple orgs that moved to "agile" and in every case it was adopt a bunch of rituals like daily standups, sprint planning and retrospective meetings, throw out all of the specs and documentation, get rid of most or all of the real QA and just start coding. There is this push to break down tasks into smaller and smaller bite sized chunks which creates an illusion of progress as work is steadily going in, and micromanagers love the pretty graphs and charts, following the burndown rate and other stats. Reality is that the process creates a tremendous amount of overhead, larger tasks that are difficult to break down into little bite sized chunks just never actually get done, and it doesn't take long before people are (sometimes unconsciously) massaging things to make the graphs look nice. Invariably in my experience product quality suffers. Frequent updates are touted as something good, that customers always have the latest and greatest. All it really means is that customers are now on the bleeding edge caught in a perpetual beta and are now a substantial part of the QA team.

[Bud]

Sounds like Altium pretty much.

[gnavigator1007]

Drinking a beer now because digikey just logged me off and lost all the odds and ends in my cart. 3rd time something like this has happened recently on digikey  The thing is that most of what I'm ordering was already thru other distributors just so I could minimise the hassle of dealing with the digikey site. What I had in the cart were equivalents of out of stock items from the other distributors.