January 11, 2010 -- Mouser Electronics Inc. has introduced a new virtual catalog that the distributor says is superior to other electronic component e-catalogs in features, capabilities, timeliness, and speed. “We are proud to launch this new e-catalog and believe customers will find its options for online catalog browsing and ordering like none they have seen before,” says Hayne Shumate, Mouser’s VP of Internet Business.
For the first time, says the distributor, customers can browse, search, and buy products without leaving the e-catalog. Customers can see product availability, extended prices, detailed specifications, and alternative images, all while remaining in the e-catalog application.
“Feedback from the first release has been very positive,” said Shumate. “One of our goals was to reproduce, online, the ease of product browsing that has made our paper catalog so popular over the decades. Customers have been excited about their ability to explore and find products with this tool. Viewing-extended product attributes, spec sheets, and inventory within the pages has also been popular.”
One of the core design elements of the new e-catalog, says Mouser, is the ability to swap easily between the e-catalog and the traditional website. Other features include the abilities to: view product availability and specifications without leaving the e-catalog; order products directly from the e-catalog; search the catalog by keyword or part number; browse product taxonomy in 11 languages; browse suppliers by name; obtain page view history recalls from the last 20 catalog pages viewed; and leverage customer-assigned bookmarks for up to 100 pages.
Mouser says its website development team spent months perfecting the integrated tool to help customers easily navigate the distributor's massive product selection. The e-catalog employs Microsoft's Silverlight technology to fully integrate a paper catalog experience with rich Internet content. Shumate said Mouser chose Silverlight because of its flexibility, scalability, and its cross-browser support on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows machines.
“The platform’s ability to seamlessly integrate high-performance web services allows us to add products as they are ready and bring real-time product information to the page. Mouser’s e-catalog can be accessed by anyone who downloads the free Silverlight plug-in for IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Chrome,” continued Shumate.
The new catalog is available from the top right corner of the Mouser homepage and can also be accessed at www.mouser.com/enhanced_catalog.
