Farnell upgrades website to meet increased online demand

The enhancements include increased flexibility and ease of use when identifying and buying components for new product design, production and testing, enabling engineers to speed up project design and accelerate the procurement process.

Farnell has seen the proportion of business conducted online grow further since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the changing needs of engineers and designers working and ordering products from home.

The proportion of online orders in some European markets has increased to more than 90% within the last 12 months. Farnell’s latest website enhancements enable customers to speed up project design and the product procurement process.

These enhancements include:

• Free Traceparts 3D CAD Models and 2D CAD Drawings are now available in response to customer requests. Designers can speed up project design with immediate access to 3D models and 2D CAD drawings at no cost. The CAD viewer enables customers to make a quick visual evaluation of components with view/zoom from any angle before downloading and integrating it into their preferred CAD software.

• Access up to 5 years of Order History means that customers can quickly access their order history, making it easier for them to reorder previously used parts from past projects. Filtering through this list is even easier with additional options to search via manufacturer part numbers, order codes, customer part number, manufacturer, product details as well as delivery addresses and dates.

• Enhanced Technical Documents provide vital product data and technical information to help customers research and purchase products online. Farnell has added more than 25 new search categories for technical documents, including application notes, whitepapers, user and service manuals, certificates and datasheets, which can be downloaded directly from Farnell’s product pages.

• Highlighting popular products provide professionals working from home with increased confidence when choosing components and products. Remote working is one of the foremost impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and it has created an increased need for enhanced digital services that support customers in the product selection process.

• Addition of English search capabilities on German and French websites to support the large numbers of customers searching for products in English. Across Europe (excluding the United Kingdom) 11% of customers use English as their default language. New sitemaps have been introduced to help customers search for products in English when using Google in Germany and France.

• Product Page Attribute selector makes it simpler for customers to navigate across products within a range. All attributes and values are now available and editable directly on the product page – so switching between a series has never been easier.

• Faster Website has been a key focus for Farnell with the aim of making it one of the fastest in the industry. Changes over the last 12 months has resulted in taking over 1 second off page load time with lots more to come.

Ian Baxter (pictured), Global Head of eCommerce, Farnell says: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the purchasing patterns of our customers. With more professionals now working from home we are experiencing an increase in demand for products, components and solutions outside of normal operating hours. We have invested in the functionality of our website to ensure our customers continue to receive a high-quality service at every stage of their design to production journey, regardless of where they are based. These new website enhancements provide customers with increased flexibility and ease of use when designing and ordering products with Farnell.”