Catalog Navigator is basically the corner stone of our marketing from this day forward. There is no more going back to where we were.
Dave Humphries
Executive Vice President
Challenge: Customers needed the right search function and the latest product information
Solution: Catalog Navigator lets customers search using the parameters they want; Web maintenance tools make changes easy
Minor Rubber's Web Solution http://minorrubber.thomasnet.com
For more than fifty years, Minor Rubber, a leading manufacturer of standard and custom molded, extruded, dipped and fabricated rubber products, offered its products in printed catalogs. This family business has been successful right from the start. But when the company discovered ThomasNet's Catalog Navigator, the way it conducted business and marketed its products changed drastically.
Executive Vice President Dave Humphries says “Times change. Things change all the time. With the Internet and with Catalog Navigator, we can make instant changes to our catalog content. There's so much more we can do with a website than we could ever do by handing out catalogs, or CD-ROMs that would be out of date in a very short period of time.”
Minor Rubber's customers appreciate being able to search the company's product lines based on the parameters they select, such as dimensions and materials, and compare them side by side. “The one feature customers count on is the compare mode. They pick three to five parts and compare them - and they love that,” says Tom Fitzhenry, Vice President of Sales.
E-commerce capabilities have increased the company's sales. “Now, 34-40% of our hits are turning into business. When you put a sample in a guy's hands within 36, 48, or 72 hours after they've contacted you, and you give them a price and he sees that price, he sees the sample, he's got it in hand, he's seen it on the Internet and bang - you've got him,” Humphries says.
Minor Rubber also appreciates Catalog Navigator's easy-to-use catalog management tools. Fitzhenry says, “If I find an error this afternoon it could be fixed this afternoon. It's a tremendous cost savings and from a maintenance standpoint, it's a win-win.”
Minor Rubber is relying on ThomasNet for Internet marketing solutions to drive more business now and into the future. Humphries adds, “One of the nice things about Catalog Navigator is that it's tied to Thomas. Everybody in the industrial world knows who Thomas is. Without [Catalog Navigator] it we would not be able to go forward in the manner in which we'd like to go forward as a company.”
For more information on the solutions used by this company, call us at 866-662-0222 or complete our Contact Us form.
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