Case Study #13 : Catalog Online Migration - Hardware Products
Actual Studies, Real Results – Using Marketing Research to Grow Sales and Profits
Product Category
Business-to-Business – OEM Parts Manufacturer
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Research Topic
Designing migration from printed to online catalog
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Research Need
Midsize parts manufacturer needed customer input on design of online catalog to replace their printed catalog.
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Research Process
Focus groups were conducted among design engineers who would normally specify the client's hardware parts in the design of the customers' products. Alternative online catalog designs were evaluated.
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Results
Early in the research process, the design engineers seriously challenged eliminating the printed catalog. They indicated that they used the printed catalog as an "idea book" in their design process. None of the online design concepts met the need for the "idea book" usage of the printed catalog.
The research led to a decision to develop an "idea book" version of the printed catalog, with greatly reduced content. They also decided to promote the "idea book" application of the printed catalog. The client was still able to migrate most of the printed content to an online catalog, saving significant ongoing printing costs. Codes were added to the "idea book" to easily find the online detail for each hardware product. |
Links to Related Case Studies
Business-to-Business - Advertising Development
Business-to-Business - Focus Groups