Supplier Web site opinions

[Tandy]

I am working on an update to the Tandy web site so as eevblog forum users are likely to have spent a fair amount of time on suppliers sites, so I thought I would seek suggestions from you.

Do you tend to use the site navigation to find what you are looking for or hit the search box ?

In the original plan our site was split into two main categories 'Components' and 'Electronics & Accessories' the thinking being that manufactured products such as microphones, soldering irons etc are not muddled together with switches and semiconductors. A few comments have been made that the arrangement is a bit confusing, especially when something like a breakout board doesn't fit neatly into either category as it is manufactured product but used as a component in a project. So currently thinking on having a single list of categories.

All comments welcome.

[Tandy]

Do you have a list of shops? For that matter, do you even have any shops any more? Are the prices online only or if I walk into a branch of Tandy can I buy that stuff over the counter?

Unfortunately there are no Tandy shops at the moment.

It would be nice to have an option to save shopping carts like you can on Rapid and Farnell. That way you can save all the bits you need for a project.

Sounds like a good idea, currently if you are logged in, the current cart/basket is permanently saved until you return, but I assume you mean add items and save it for later and then start a new basket of items without checking out.

[jucole]

I tend to use the search box first, then narrow my search with the parametric search.    Your existing "about us"sounds a bit vague to me; a quick glance by a customer might give them the impression you have a string of shops or plan to open some shops again?

[Tandy]

In that case you should remove the photo of a Tandy shop from the front page.

More generally I think it would be a good idea to be a bit clearer about who you actually are. My understanding is that Tandy world-wide went bust, but presumably you have rights to the name. Are you just a one-man operation, how long have you been trading for, how come you are using the Tandy name etc? It honestly looks a bit dodgy at the moment, especially since you have the shop photo on there but no location details etc.

A more detailed history is on the list of things for the new site. It is a very long and complicated history, the abbreviated version is that Tandy was part of RadioShack, it didn't go bust, but rather they decided to sell off parts of the non-US operation. In the UK the store leases (and the staff that worked in them) were sold to Carphone Warehouse. We bought the remaining assets including the European trademarks a couple of years back. It isn’t however just a case of sticking the Tandy name on a bunch of random stuff as often happens, we are the official successor to the Tandy of old, many products are from the Tandy back catalogue that go all the way back to the 1970s, using the same manufacturers of those parts.

I sent Dave info on this a while back and he suggested I post it in the forum so I should probably start have started a separate thread with a more detailed background.

[ajb]

The absolute gold standard in finding what you need quickly is McMaster-Carr.  Name any piece of hardware or mechanical tool, and chances are they have it and you can find it in 10 seconds, tops.  The key to that is that both the keyword search and the parametric search work incredibly well--and if you compare the way McMaster's searches work with the way that many other suppliers' searches work, the underlying factor that enables them to work well is the quality and consistency of the underlying data.  You can't just do a dumb keyword search of all of your product descriptions and expect good results, nor can you implement a useful parametric search if your parameters aren't defined consistently across all of your items. 

So I guess what I'm saying is that whether you emphasize a keyword search or a parametric search, make sure that you put some effort into ensuring that the underlying data is there to support it, and that will go a long way towards ensuring your potential customers will find (and buy!) what they want.

The other thing that will help is making sure that you don't box things in too tightly.  If a breadboard fits into two categories, then put it in both!  Don't assume that a customer will think to check a different category if they don't find what they're looking for where they expect it.

[AndyC_772]

I completely agree. It's downright embarrassing to see things like "50V", "50vdc" and "50V DC" all included as options in a parametric search, where they're all exactly equivalent but nobody has bothered to make all the database entries consistent.

Almost as bad is seeing numeric values sorted alphabetically and/or without regard to units. I expect 10nF to be listed above 100nF, because it's a smaller value, but sort them alphabetically and they end up swapped because 'n' > '0' in ASCII.

Other sites get this right, but still don't understand the units properly, and sure enough, if I browse the Tandy site for capacitors, I get:

        47uF (1)
        100uF (1)
        470uF (2)
        10nF (1)
        100nF (1)
        220nF (1)

To answer your original question, I often use a search box to find out which category contains the items I'm looking for, but then ideally I'll navigate up a level or two to ensure I can see all the items that might be relevant even if they don't contain the exact keyword I've typed.

So, for example, I might do a search for "solder braid" as a quick way to discover that such things have been filed under a category called Tools > Soldering > Accessories. But perhaps the product I actually want is labelled as "desoldering wick", so it won't be a keyword match but ought to be in the same category. Provided I can easily see, and click on, the category heading for a given item, I get to see all the relevant items, not just those whose descriptions I can guess correctly.

[Tandy]

It's downright embarrassing to see things like "50V", "50vdc" and "50V DC" all included as options

Agreed completely, data is probably entered by administrative staff from manufacturers data sheets. It really needs someone who has a basic idea about what the specifications mean to avoid those kinds of errors.

sure enough, if I browse the Tandy site for capacitors, I get: ...

Thanks for pointing it out, you are right it didn't make any sense to have the numbers in ascending order but the units in descending order, that is now fixed.

[Tandy]

Interesting, what parts are those?

A couple of examples are ...
Knobs, Toggle Switch,
4mm Test Sockets

These can all be found in the 1970's catalogues and come from the same manufacturer.

[Mechanical Menace]

Do you tend to use the site navigation to find what you are looking for or hit the search box?

Unless I already know exactly what I want the site navigation and then the parametric search. But then again I'm hardly even a hobbyist so meh.

[T3sl4co1l]

Or -- if you're not going to do parametric search (and deciding not to is absolutely a valid decision -- reviewing an entire database is a huge undertaking), at least have the parts organized in some hierarchical, traversable manner.

Old time example being a catalog.  Usually with broad part families (passives, actives, mechanical, power...), categories within those (resistors, capacitors; transistors, ICs; etc.), further sub-categories if needed, and then by manufacturer, or by ratings and type, or etc.  (I'm guessing manufacturer won't be such a big player, with almost everything branded Tandy already!)

With an index or table of contents at the front, and the beginning of each section (and for the web or PDF version, make sure these are hyperlinked -- and don't use those STUPID "web catalog" things, they're slow and they SUCK!), navigation in printed or electronic form is pretty simple, even if you can't really search parametrically on what you're looking for.  Do include as many parameters as possible in the selection tables themselves; I hate nothing more than catalogs with a table of Part Number, Price, maybe a Figure reference, and NO DATA.  How the hell am I supposed to make a choice between these?!  Blah!

When organized in this way, the user can usually find something based on a vague idea of objective.  A "close enough" keyword can end up in the right general area at least, which is why in-order traversal is important (I want a resistor, but not a power resistor, just a regular one, so it must be *this* way.. *flips pages*).

And, thanks for having a dialog with some (hopefully useful) [potential] users of your website!

Tim