Nice bit of tool porn

[user 4112]

A very welcome mail shot from Axminster dropped through the letter box in the last few days full of stuff I didn’t know I needed and SHMBO wanting me to pick something for Christmas. Being only 32 pages it is a long way away from their much missed paper catalogue but could this be a taster of what's to come, back to a real catalogue and not the interweb thingy? Here's hoping.

 

[ColeyS1]

I thought the same. Just flicking through the pages and found 2 things that would be very useful. Wouldn't have known about them if they were just on the website.

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[Rorschach]

I have to admit the loss of the paper catalogue has put a dent in Axminster's income from my wallet. When the catalogue arrived I would spend several weeks looking over every page and marking those which would be useful such as blades/spares for quick reference as well as tools I might find useful in the future or present ideas.
Now it's all online I don't do that, when I want to buy something I search for it, but not always on the axminster site so I often end up buying elsewhere.

The same thing happened with my MSC orders, I used to use their catalogue to find item since their website was and still is dire to search within. I asked for a new catalogue a while back and they said I couldn't have one and I think since then they have stopped producing them anyway. Now I rarely buy from them as it's too much hassle.

 

[ColeyS1]

I have to admit the loss of the paper catalogue has put a dent in Axminster's income from my wallet. When the catalogue arrived I would spend several weeks looking over every page and marking those which would be useful such as blades/spares for quick reference as well as tools I might find useful in the future or present ideas.
Now it's all online I don't do that, when I want to buy something I search for it, but not always on the axminster site so I often end up buying elsewhere.

Same here. I needed a router cutter from them and couldn't find it on the website. I rang them but the Axminster guy couldn't find it either. I mentioned it was a shame the catalogue was dropped and his response was 'that's what I'm here for, it was too expensive to produce.' I believe the reason for dropping it originally was so they could keep the prices more competitive? It seemed bonkers that they didn't have the cutter I needed, it was nothing special. I searched and searched and searched the site and ended up finding it myself. I rang them back to tell them where it could be found and had a not really bothered reply.
Trend, cmt or titman catalogue for router cutters now.


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[Rorschach]

I was going to get a trend catalogue to help me choose cutters but while the catalogue is free, the postage is not. Ok if you are already ordering but I don't know what to order until I have read the catalogue lol!

 

[Blockplane]

Very useful to show OH what tools cost new, as opposed to what I have spent in the last year

 

[ColeyS1]

I was going to get a trend catalogue to help me choose cutters but while the catalogue is free, the postage is not. Ok if you are already ordering but I don't know what to order until I have read the catalogue lol!

How bizarre ! I've never paid for one. Perhaps just on a mailing list from years ago.

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[marcros]

realistically though, the paper catalogue is not coming back, and more companies will drop theirs in years to come.

Money needs to be spent on making the websites better, enabling the searches that aren't working to show you the results that you want. we are never far from internet access now. Experts will have done research on how the lack of a paper catalogue affects customer spend, and in the grand scale of things the benefit of not producing and mailing our a large tome each year will more than offset the downsides of not being able to flick through.

 

[graduate_owner]

I really miss the paper catalogue too, online pages are just not the same, nowhere near. And I am not impressed with the search facility either. Browsing the latest catalogue was always a bit of a treat.

K

 

[user 4112]

I wonder just how much sales did drop off after the paper version was binned? Clearly Axminster's back office brethren will have done the maths both prior to and since the catalogue's demise and since the catalogue remains conspicuous in its absence it must be more profitable to the company not to print it. That said if Axminster were to put a £5ish cover charge on it or charge for postage I’d still be getting my annual copy. A much missed resource that the interweb doesn’t come close to replacing (for me a hobbyist). The paper version also works in a power cut.

 

[sunnybob]

Bet they dont send me a copy, (ahhh)

 

[--Tom--]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a digital catalogue and customise it for tablets.

If they made it as an app with a wish list feature you could browse through and select anything that catches your eye rather than relying on folding over the corner on the page.

With a decent search function it could be better than flicking through endless pages after recalling seeing that thingamybob somewhere in the catalogue

 

[ColeyS1]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a digital catalogue and customise it for tablets.

If they made it as an app with a wish list feature you could browse through and select anything that catches your eye rather than relying on folding over the corner on the page.

With a decent search function it could be better than flicking through endless pages after recalling seeing that thingamybob somewhere in the catalogue

I think toolstations website is first class, especially the turning the page feature.

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[MattRoberts]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a digital catalogue and customise it for tablets.

If they made it as an app with a wish list feature you could browse through and select anything that catches your eye rather than relying on folding over the corner on the page.

With a decent search function it could be better than flicking through endless pages after recalling seeing that thingamybob somewhere in the catalogue

You've just described the axminster website...

 

[ColeyS1]

It wouldn't be difficult to make a digital catalogue and customise it for tablets.

If they made it as an app with a wish list feature you could browse through and select anything that catches your eye rather than relying on folding over the corner on the page.

With a decent search function it could be better than flicking through endless pages after recalling seeing that thingamybob somewhere in the catalogue

You've just described the axminster website...

I don't think it's a slick digital catalogue, far from it. Here's a few screen grabs from toolstations offering

Swiping left or right turns the page. You could flick/swipe through the entire digital catalogue from front to back.

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[NazNomad]

I was going to get a trend catalogue to help me choose cutters but while the catalogue is free, the postage is not. Ok if you are already ordering but I don't know what to order until I have read the catalogue lol!

How bizarre ! I've never paid for one. Perhaps just on a mailing list from years ago.

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I got a Trend catalogue recently and I definitely didn't pay postage. I wouldn't have got it if it weren't free.

 

[Rorschach]

£2 it was when I tried today.

 

[MattRoberts]

I don't think it's a slick digital catalogue, far from it. Here's a few screen grabs from toolstations offering

It appears that our view of what constitutes a slick digital catalogue differs!

The axminster site is well organised into categories, it has a good search facility, online reviews both positive and negative, recommendations, info articles, and it's mobile friendly.

That's a vast improvement on a literal 'flick through hundreds of images of a paper catalogue' in my eyes, but I get that you and others might prefer a more traditional experience like that.

 

[ColeyS1]

Let's say I wanna see if they still sell briquette machines. In the search bar I type 'briquette machine' at what page number shall I give up looking !

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Edit- pic added

 

[NazNomad]

If you just search for 'briquette', it'll tell you there are none in about 2 milliseconds

Using 'machine' to search through a website that sells machines is going to get you a heap of results (2853... in 12 ms)