We asked and you answered, User Survey Results are in!

Once a year we poll our user base about their experience with Octopart so we can be sure we are providing the best electronic component search engine experience in the industry. This year’s survey ran the duration of the month of November and we collected 925 responses. Thank you to all who participated, we appreciate the time you invested and for letting us know how you use our site and what we can improve, update or keep as is on Octopart.com. We value the feedback and are already working on some exciting updates for 2023. 

Here are some of the questions asked and how our users answered.

How often do you visit Octopart.com?

We pride ourselves on being a resource that you rely on for the valuable information needed to get your work done. That is why we work hard to provide the most accurate and agnostic part data, obtained directly from our manufacturing and distributing partners. With the continued challenges we are seeing in the global electronic components supply chain, we understand why daily use of Octopart is important. Rest assured we are working tirelessly to maintain our unimpeachable data and to provide the best experience we can for our users. 

Coming in 2023, we will release an updated look on the homepage and on the search results pages, making things cleaner, more organized, and even easier to navigate. We are aiming to streamline your search experience by adding some key buttons to help you work faster. More to come in 2023.

What is your role and what industry do you work in?

These results were not surprising to us as we know our audience is largely made up of Engineers of all trades. At 40%, the number of Engineers is down 10 percentage points from last year’s results which reported over 50% of users surveyed said they work in an Engineering role. Procurement roles remain the second largest reported group, with a notable increase of 9 percentage points since 2021. 

As electronics are being incorporated into most consumer products, the largest concentration of our users report working in the Consumer Products and Electronics industry. Other industries represented were Industrial Machinery (14%), General Manufacturing (13%), Semiconductors (11%), and Automotive & Transportation (8%). 

Select all the product categories you are engaged in researching and/or buying.

These results come as no surprise as we have watched the continued challenges and supply chain shortages in the Semiconductor market. According to the Electronic Design to Delivery Index (EDDI) report, the demand for Semiconductors and Integrated Circuits followed similar trends in 2022, both reporting low supply and high demand from January through July. The second half of the year showed a shift with a slight increase in supply and a very subtle decrease in demand. This does not mean the demand for Semiconductors has declined as a whole in the industry, as our EDDI only represents the trends we see from a segment of the industry.  However, until supply can meet the demand on a global scale we expect Semiconductors to continue to be a closely watched (and searched for) commodity. 

For more industry supply and demand trends, subscribe to Spectra’s Electronic Design to Delivery Index. 

Select all the reasons you use Octopart.com

Electronic component inventory and pricing information remains the leading reasons our users search on Octopart. It is our mission to provide the best, most accurate search results to save our users time and money. Our part data is provided directly from our partners and presented to our users in a straightforward, digestible way. Plus, we are constantly working behind the scenes to improve your search experience and the part data you rely on. We do this by partnering with manufacturers and distributors and improving the algorithms that work hard for you. We remain unbiased in our representation of manufacturers and distributors and simply aim to supply the information you need to make an informed purchase. When it comes to making that purchase, 88% of the users surveyed say they prefer to buy from authorized distributors at pricing available online. 

Select all the features you find useful on Ocotopart.com.

Datasheets are vital to understanding the part specifications and selecting the best part for your product. When you search for a part and click into the part details page, you can easily see the datasheets available to you under the documents link. The datasheets are sorted by manufacturer and organized by page length and age. This empowers our users to easily find the datasheet they feel will best represent the part they are researching. 

The Inventory History Chart is a recent addition to the part details page. With the option to toggle between 3 months or 1 year of procurement history, this is available to our users to help inform about available inventory and if a part will be easy to buy.

Stock Notifications are managed in your user account and can be set to watch part numbers, inventory levels and distributors. To watch a part, simply click on the "Watch" button on the part details page, customize the notification, then sit back and let Octopart tell you when your part is running low in inventory or back in stock. 

What’s new for Octopart in 2023?

We are making some exciting changes to the look and feel of the Octopart homepage and our search result pages. Adding some modern touches and user-friendly features to improve your search experience and help you to find the information you need as fast and as easily as possible. We have added new partnerships to improve the part data accuracy and help you find better part matches and alternative parts. This is just a teaser of the improvements and features coming to Octopart in 2023. Stay tuned for a great year!