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Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

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Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#291

Post by Dave3of5 »

Eek I'm going to go against the grain here a little. That site is useful when you already know what you are looking for. For someone who's just browsing for something interesting to buy it's terrible.

Obviously it's been made for exactly that purpose and does it well but for general e-commerce it's bad. The retailers are looking to send you to an area of their website with "stuff" you are interested in. For example you like toys because you're a parent who's buying your kids stuff for x-mas. The site wants to know that sort of thing and send you to the toys for x-mas section.

What Mcmaster.com looks like to me is an old fashioned mail order company that's converted their old mail order catalogue straight to a website, perfection.

Also note with Bezos tinkering with every pixel on the website is very old news, this doesn't happen anymore.

P.S. I'll eat the downvotes.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#292

Post by blitzar »

Dave3of5 wrote: post #291

Eek I'm going to go against the grain here a little. That site is useful when you already know what you are looking for. For someone who's just browsing for something interesting to buy it's terrible. Obviously it's been made for exactly that purpose and does it well but for general e-commerce it's bad. The retailers are looking to send you to an area of their website with "stuff" you are interested in. For example y…

Bezos is too busy tinkering with the sorts of things that wouldnt go anywhere near him when he wasnt a billionaire to bother with a website

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#294

Post by blitzar »

thrown_22 wrote: post #271
Mistletoe wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe your customers or employer would like you to save 2, 3, 5, 10x the price… My memories of McMaster from doing my hobbies is that it is outrageously expensive.

You are, people ignore how much their time costs when they start "saving" money all the time.

Nahh, postage is $12.99; I can save that by driving 5 hours each way tomorrow to collect it - unlike you wasteful people who stupidly pay the postage and have it arrive the next morning /s

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#295

Post by bbarn »

jstanley wrote: post #253
mrb wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There you go, package of 10 for $7.57: https://www.mcmaster.com/90910A589/ McMaster has everything (almost)!

"Set screw" means the same as "grub screw", i.e. a bolt where the entire thing is threaded, and the head is set within the bounds of the thread, not proud of it. Like this: https://ever-hardware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Torx-se... Torx grub screws are super uncommon, I don't think I've ever seen one. Usually they have a hex socket (for an allen key), or occasionally they're slotted (for a flat-blade screwdriver…

I think they are uncommon because torx drivers are always bigger than the head of the tool. They always taper down to the size as part of the design, so that doesn't work well for most applications.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#296

Post by bbarn »

ISL wrote: post #93
xen2xen1 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell me there's a story behind an "industrial tricycle?"

It has come up when we've played the "McMaster Game" at our office, in which we attempt to guess random things that McMaster might or might not have. Interesting things they have had in the past include basketball hoops (in a kit, ready to go, for all your "our institution needs a basketball court... today" needs) and a urinal. But yes, there are real uses for industrial tricycles -- need to move some stuff (or a per…

I used to fix machines at an insurance company in Wisconsin that was so big people rode those tricycles with baskets all down the hallways.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#297

Post by MoSattler »

Dave3of5 wrote: post #291

Eek I'm going to go against the grain here a little. That site is useful when you already know what you are looking for. For someone who's just browsing for something interesting to buy it's terrible. Obviously it's been made for exactly that purpose and does it well but for general e-commerce it's bad. The retailers are looking to send you to an area of their website with "stuff" you are interested in. For example y…

Maybe check out https://www.govolition.com

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#298

Post by throwaway93702 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #59
jonnycomputer wrote: post #3

What a beautiful, functional, perfect e-commerce site. After so much frustration looking for parts and tools at big box store web sites, this is fresh like a sea breeze. Sold, 100%. In fact, I was just browsing Home Depot for some tool hooks, but I think I'll buy them from this place instead.

The shocker is it has existed in this form for nearly 20 years

The website design itself is very similar to how other ecommerce sites used to be 20 years ago, at least in my part of the world. Unfortunately we seem to have lost a lot of the simplicity over the years.

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#299

Post by brianpan »

bpicolo wrote: post #64
ddhhyy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never emailed them but I have called them on a few occasions. Somehow they pick up before it even rings once. And it's a real person, not a phone tree. Pretty remarkable.

Call center software does the job of picking up

But cost cutting determines how long it takes for the software to pick up. :/

Re: Mcmaster.com is the best e-commerce site I've ever used

#300

Post by SilverBirch »

This is a great example of doing one niche incredibly well. Another example I've seen of doing this well is motorcycle parts[1]. You select your motorcycle, it presents you with a set of schematics of the bike split by function - for example you pick the Cam chain tensioner. You pick the schematic for the part you want and it'll show you the schematic with every part numbered, and a numbered list beside it with the name of the part, the part number, the price and a "buy" button. So simple, works absolutely perfectly.

[1]:https://www.hondaparts-direct.com/oempartfinder?aribrand=HOM...

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