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Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

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Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#21

Post by blamazon »

techplex wrote: post #17
blamazon wrote: post #4

A huge advantage of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is the 3D models - for nearly every fastener, and for certain other products, you can instantly grab a 3D model and bring it right into your CAD design. As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction…

I've heard you can contact support to get a shipping quote before placing your order.

Their phone support is excellent, I will say. Still, to call for a ship quote is a bit of a faff that feels intentionally anachronistic.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#22

Post by trey-jones »

zeusk wrote: post #8
hedora wrote: post #6

It is strange that the article refers to McMaster as a B2B site. It works just as well for consumers.

I wouldn't say so, I had to purchase the min qty. of 200 for a screw set I could only find on there that was available in reasonable time. I made use of 4 and have 196 left over

This might fit into edge cases. I've used McMaster-Carr as a consumer many times, and though I might get a discount if I bought a minimum quantity, I've been able to purchase what I needed in singles each time. I doubt if there's an e-commerce site out there that will let you purchase and ship 4 screws for less than what you would pay for 200. Even at brick and mortar hardware stores you're ripping yourself off by buying 50 screws instead of 200 (or 1000). I get that you don't need them all but the price per unit is still astronomical.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#23

Post by spinningarrow »

techplex wrote: post #17
blamazon wrote: post #4

A huge advantage of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is the 3D models - for nearly every fastener, and for certain other products, you can instantly grab a 3D model and bring it right into your CAD design. As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction…

I've heard you can contact support to get a shipping quote before placing your order.

That makes its absence even more strange - presumably then they should be able to expose that functionality to the user?

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#24

Post by mbauman »

hprotagonist wrote: post #10

mcmaster, rockauto, digikey, ... don't tell anyone, they'll "modernise" them and fuck it all up.

Digikey's empty search for the entire catalog listing in categories (and then extraordinary filtering tools within categories) is absolute perfection.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#25

Post by hedora »

zeusk wrote: post #8
hedora wrote: post #6

It is strange that the article refers to McMaster as a B2B site. It works just as well for consumers.

I wouldn't say so, I had to purchase the min qty. of 200 for a screw set I could only find on there that was available in reasonable time. I made use of 4 and have 196 left over

I bought a bunch of defective keg o-rings that waste CO2 and emptied a keg on to the floor over night (looking at you: More Beer!). For the price of one retail kit, I put together 10 rebuild kits worth of o-rings at McMaster. In that case (5 hours of researching which $0.05 o-ring to buy), the minimum quantity was more a feature than a bug.

I can understand the annoyance for non consumables, like screws.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#26

Post by NegativeK »

hedora wrote: post #6

It is strange that the article refers to McMaster as a B2B site. It works just as well for consumers.

It works pretty well for consumers, but McMaster is 100% aimed at MRO/B2B. The couple of complaint comments here in this thread make it pretty clear that people don't know that, and are blaming the website for business choices that have made McMaster as dominant as they are.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#27

Post by yardie »

blamazon wrote: post #4

A huge advantage of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is the 3D models - for nearly every fastener, and for certain other products, you can instantly grab a 3D model and bring it right into your CAD design. As far as I know no one else offers this, definitely not at the scale McMaster's dataset offers. An annoyance of McMaster I didn't see enumerated is how they don't show you the shipping cost until after transaction…

The shipping always killed it for me. I started ordering fasteners through the office. It's basically the same whether you order an envelope or a pallet.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#29

Post by mbauman »

exhaze wrote: post #19

I think is article is written from an eng/design perspective and thus fails to address business realities. Example: “product pages are way too long” Product pages are long because longer pages tend to perform better at SEO. Furthermore, at least in my experience, longer product pages don’t actually have a significantly negative impact for on-site conversion rates. Sure, maybe a better global maximum exists, and every…

> Product pages are long because longer pages tend to perform better at SEO

If you own the category, however, folks will go directly to you instead of Google. I'm not googling for a 8-32 button head sheet metal screw.

Re: Best ecommerce UX practices from mcmaster.com

#30

Post by hadlock »

spinningarrow wrote: post #23
techplex wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard you can contact support to get a shipping quote before placing your order.

That makes its absence even more strange - presumably then they should be able to expose that functionality to the user?

Shipping is a Hard Problem, especially when dealing with large volume (bigger than UPS, usually strapped to a pallet) objects, and/or very dense objects (cartons of metal nuts and bolts). You still need to call your freight person and get a quote directly from the carrier over the phone. Low density LTL (less than truckload) is a pretty known quantity and delivering to a known business (like Walmart warehouses) with a loading dock is easy. Delivering two pallet loads of high density metal to a single story engineering office in an office park with no facilities to service an 18-wheeler (let alone allow one to enter/maneuver) is another thing entirely.
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