Farnell element14 engages with customers in the development of the next generation of component catalogues

London, June 13, 2012 – Farnell element14 is pioneering a new generation of component catalogues designed to make the buying process easier. It has developed a new online catalogue, named MROCAT, in Beta, to engage customers in finalising the design of what essentially will be their very own dynamic catalogue.

Farnell element14 is launching MROCAT in BETA version catalogue to a wide range of its customers who are focused on Maintenance and Repair products. Accessible from PC, Mac, iPad and Android tablet, MROCAT provides a fully illustrated catalogue page style browsing experience with real-time stock and price information and encourages users to build shopping lists, add personal notes and bookmarks.

MROCAT Beta contains over 500 pages and covers the connector, electromechanical, automation, power, test and measurement, tools and maintenance sections of the

Farnell element14 range. This first edition lists 17,000 products from 300 brands and includes live daily stock and pricing information on PCs or tablets when connected to the internet. Users are able to navigate freely by drilling down through hierarchies, browsing by product category or by keyword search. Part number ‘hover-over’ windows pull up full product details with no effort. For those customers who still love browsing paper the MROCAT allows them to create their own personalised catalogue using keywords, page numbers or bookmarks and this version can even be printed for use on site or the shop floor.

Farnell element14 is inviting existing customers to experience MROCAT and is proactively seeking individual feedback through a range of offers and incentives. MROCAT is freely accessible to all here: http://farnell.com/mrocat and Farnell element14 is ready to act on customer feedback immediately via a ‘Tell us what you think’ link accessible from within the catalogue.

“This dynamic real-time electronic catalogue, whether it be in PC or tablet form, is one of many innovations we have in the pipeline designed to save our customers time. We want to give customers more say in the look and feel of their interface to our system. Giving them direct input to the catalogue design delivers this, and we’ll concentrate on ensuring the information behind the design is the very best it can be. Our simple question now to our European customers is how can we improve this MROCAT BETA version, to make your lives easier?” says Alan Paterson, Marketing Director, Farnell element14.

As this beta trial comes to a close, the final MROCAT format including all key customer feedback, will form the basis of other Farnell element14 catalogues targeting key market sectors and geographies.

About Farnell element14

Farnell element14 is the European trading brand of Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl) a global leader in high service distribution of technology products and solutions for electronic system design, maintenance and repair. Its differentiated proposition includes 29 local language transactional websites, and the critically important element14 Community for design engineers – an industry first (www.element14.com). With sales last year of £990.8m and underlying profits of £93.3m the Group distributes its comprehensive portfolio of products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global supply chain of over 3,500 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs.

While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognises the individual needs of each market and has continued to internationalise its model accordingly. It trades locally as Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America and Farnell Newark in Brazil. Across Asia Pacific the business trades as element14.

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