This blog is about the purchase of samples online.
One day, Rookie D, in her second year with the company, came to Senpai* C, a senior veteran employee, with a worried look on her face.......
Published: November 13, 2024
Click here to read the previous blogs in the "Help Me, Senpai! series":
Vol. 1 IoT for Energy Harvesting: Solar Panel Can’t Drive System till Morning…
Vol. 2 Stop Sleeping Mobile Device from Consuming Battery Charge!
Vol. 3 RTC Backup Switchover Circuit Is Not Easy.
Vol. 4 What is AEC-Q100?
Help Me, Senpai! Series Vol. 5
Buy Samples Online - No Sales Pressure Involved
Senpai C, I need to purchase samples quietly, can you help me?
Can't you just ask your distributor to do it for you?
I don't want to ask my distributors to do this because we haven't decided whether we are commercializing the product or not. They often email or call me to check the status of the evaluation, and I feel bad that I can't answer their questions properly.
They are enthusiastic salespeople, aren't they? Why don't you just be honest and tell them that we haven't decided whether or not to commercialize it?
There is a lot of trial and error, so we need quite a variety of samples. I feel sorry about that.
Why not try buying online?
I see that I can also buy electronic components online! Can I buy them on Amazon?
There are online distributors that specialize in electronic components. Have you ever heard of DigiKey, Mouser, RS Components, or Chip One Stop? Buying from reputable distributors will give you peace of mind.
I see. But I don't know much about them, except that I often see them advertised in magazines.
DigiKey started out as a catalog company. The U.S. is a big country, so mail order is very developed. The popularization of the Internet led to the company's global expansion. If they put information on the Internet, they don't have to send out thick catalogs.
Mouser is another American company. Mouser is such a growing company that Warren Buffett, the god of investing, made it part of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Both make it easy to buy electronic components, even one at a time, and since they carry many electronic components and semiconductor products, there's probably no product you can't get.
Is the quality of the online products good, by the way?
That's not a problem. If they were selling faulty products, companies like DigiKey and Mouser wouldn’t have been around for over 50 years. Well, you can never be sure, but if there is a problem, they will replace it.
But electronic components can be destroyed. Even if they were defective, wouldn't the distributor say, "You broke them, didn't you?"
You worry too much, they carry the component manufacturer's brand on their back, so they will take good care of you. Manufacturers don't sell strange products either.
What do you mean?
More and more online distributors are becoming authorized distributors. Both DigiKey and Mouser, mentioned above, have signed authorized distribution agreements with semiconductor manufacturers.
I see. I had an image that online sales were selling dead stock or suspicious items on the market because they are sometimes unusually cheap, but it seems to be OK.
Well, you should be wary of anything extremely cheap, but you shouldn't be prejudiced. Of course, semiconductors are a special market, so you have to be careful.
Special?
It's BtoB (Business to Business), which means that the customers are companies, not consumers. And the prices are not cheap. Well, it is natural that they are not cheap because they are sold in small quantities.
What are some of the things I need to be aware of?
It depends on the online distributor. You should first check if they have an official distribution agreement with the manufacturer. Even if they show a lot of semiconductor manufacturer logos on their website, there are cases where they use the logo without permission. Such companies do not buy directly from the manufacturer, so there may be a problem with the quality of the product.
There is no way for us to find out.
Yes, we have. It's easy. Just check the semiconductor manufacturer's website. They will clearly state who the authorized online distributors are.
I see. So they are on the manufacturer's website, just like authorized local distributors?
Does the manufacturer offer direct online sales? It would be convenient to buy directly from them. ......
Hmmm. Very large manufacturers do it, but I've heard that it usually doesn't pay off. If they don't sell in large quantities, they end up losing money on shipping.
I see. The unit price of a product is different from online sales of books or consumer electronics, isn't it?
Yes. With a specialized online distributor, you can buy products from many manufacturers at once. For components, the advantage is even greater. Each online distributor has its own ideas, and you can even buy all at once by simply uploading a BOM list.
BOM: Bill of Materials, a list of required components
That sounds convenient. If we buy a lot, sometimes even the shipping costs are paid by the online distributor.
In the past, when I asked manufacturers and distributors for samples, they pretty much refused.
They told me they could only sell me one reel at a time or something like that.
These are good times.
Haha, I don't need to talk about that. ......
In the past, we had a hard time getting distributors to understand our need and ask for samples. Distributors were probably being pushed by the manufacturer to ask what was going on.
So those old stories are unnecessary. ......
I guess it didn't pay off in the past because there were no online sales. It's so convenient now. Now we can buy without a salesperson, and we don't get emails or phone calls asking us to tell them the results of our evaluation.
I think that is a bit impersonal. Distributors give us a lot of information, don't they? Sometimes I like to talk to them.
Well, it depends on the person. Some engineers like to talk, while others prefer to concentrate on designing without talking. Recently, there seem to be cases where a customer suddenly contacts a salesperson at a distributor to place an order, and the salesperson is in a panic. I think it would be better to exchange information with distributors in a moderate way.
Sure ....... I understand. Please tell me how to apply for an account.
List of Online Distributors for Nisshinbo Micro Devices
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