Spotlight On
insight into how the business operates, from engineering design and machine and panel building, to production maintenance, stores management and purchasing solutions.
Another major initiative over the past year has been the rebranding of our own-brand products, bringing the RS Essentials, ISO-TECH and RS Professional brands into one simpler and clearer value brand called RS Pro. We have longer- term plans for the brand including expanding the product range and increasing the offering into new markets for the brand such as North America and Asia Pacific.
Much business today is moving into the digital space. What is the RS approach in this area?
The biggest value-add for customers is simplifying the purchase journey. But what is simple for one customer may not be for another, so a one-size-fits-all approach is a short-term strategy. Distributors need to collaborate closely with their customers to ascertain their specific needs and adopt a multi-channel approach to provide the customer with options to obtain products and services that are right for them today and in the future. But certainly, e-commerce is growing and now represents more than 65 per cent of our sales around the world. The continued development of our website is therefore an absolute must to deliver a best-in-class online customer experience. The digital space presents a particular challenge for business-to-
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business distributors, as buyer behaviour evolves and the lines between B2B and B2C become increasingly blurred. A big push to implement substantial website improvements over the past twelve months has led to a 30 per cent improvement in site speed and the highest level of growth in our online sales for three years. In parallel with the on- going upgrades in website functionality to make it faster and easier to use, we are adding more and more information to help customers with product selection, including thousands of product images, datasheets and videos. And we have recently launched a really simple to use mobile web experience – watch out for more developments and additions to this service over the coming months.
Beyond the basics of distribution and delivering products to customers, what is the RS strategy to support engineers, and especially the new emerging community of ‘makers’?
While product distribution is clearly the core of our business, we are also well positioned to introduce more innovation to our offer and provide end-to-end solutions to help customers save time. The DesignSpark online engineering community is a major element here and in our drive to help engineers in the product development process from initial concept to prototype to production. We have developed free downloadable design tools for PCB and electrical design and 3D prototyping, for example, as well as
hosting key information and other design resources on the DesignSpark website. It also helps us to address new entrants into the market, especially with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT). This includes makers, but also major companies that have not traditionally been involved in the electronics industry. Did you know that the Raspberry Pi-Top computer was designed using DesignSpark software? Essentially, the initiative enables us to better engage with our customers on new technologies and product design. One obvious benefit is that it can help us ensure that more RS part numbers are integrated into more new product designs. It also provides us with more insight into electronics and industrial design trends, which is extremely valuable to our supplier base. DesignSpark already has almost 500,000 members and around 600,000 page views per month. We see significant potential for this part of the business and will increase our investment in it in the future.
A further element is providing real application support for engineers. We are also pioneering what we call the “Digital Application Engineer”. This essentially involves communicating technical and useful application-led content via the RS and DesignSpark websites and using the company’s many marketing communication channels. We have also developed online hubs to address some key target markets including motor control, the IoT, power management and LED lighting. Each hub delivers links to key information and block diagrams, aids navigation to a range of relevant new and
existing products, as well as DesignSpark blogs, reference designs and supporting technical content.
How is RS, and the industry in general, looking to excite the engineers of the future?
We are fighting an on-going skills gap in the engineering disciplines in the UK, and it is important for companies in the technology sector to take action to inspire youngsters to become involved in the industry. The interactive and fun nature of ‘RS Live’ has also been designed to connect with the younger generation: the engineers and customers of the future. We took the truck to a school in west London recently, and observing the excited reaction of the pupils during their hands-on workshops with a Raspberry Pi laptop, was absolute proof that engaging with children in this way brings technology to life, and may even motivate them to take their interest further into engineering studies and perhaps, ultimately, a career in engineering.
In addition, the STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative is spearheading a programme that calls for employers and educators in the UK to help young people of all backgrounds and abilities understand real world applications of STEM subjects. This is an invaluable project that all technology businesses should get behind and support.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/ Components in Electronics October 2016 33
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