New Product Guide 2010
26 November 2009
We're not saying goodbye to paper just yet. After one or two false starts (you can never quite predict new product development cycles in chemistry!), our new catalogue is now ready.
There were one or two major new products that we wanted to include (particularly the TC RNA and UNA products) so hence the longer than usual wait. We've completely rewritten the Guide to reflect current developments in oligo chemistry. This is particularly true of the protocols section which has had a major revision and update. For this reason you may notice that a lot of the older product documents and knowledge base articles have been removed from the web site. This is simply because the information available in the 2010 Product Guide is the most current. We will not be issuing separate revised technical information documents for every product in our range as this would simply be an unneccesary duplication of information. We will, of course, continue to publish separate documentation on new products as they become available and add to the knowledge base as new information on applications and use emerges for all of our products.
It is interesting that in these digital-led times, customers are still quite forthright in telling us that they prefer to use a paper catalogue rather than the web (or at least have it in addition to the web). I think this is true especially in lab environments where access to PCs and the Internet is not always easy. We try and get the balance between online and offline information as right as we can. For instance, we no longer issue paper price lists (the Product Guide has no prices) as we found this completely unmanageable with fluctuations in currencies etc making our printed lists out of date in an instant. All of our list prices - and discounted customer prices - are on the web.
Where possible we will always make product information available online and we certainly think that new channels such as Twitter are a great way for us to quickly update customers on what we are up to - and, indeed, for customers to tell us what they are doing. But, as we've said, paper information is still popular. The difficulty can be in maintaining two sets of information and keeping them aligned. This is even more pronounced as our catalogue lifespan increases. This, though, is essential because the cost of producing a paper catalogue is very high. If we do this too often, or indeed make it too "lavish", then our customers may think, with some justification, that we're wasting money that they could see in the form of savings on products. It's a balance that I hope we've got right.
There's also the environmental angle to catalogue production and this is something that we take very seriously. For this reason, I'm pleased to say that the 2010 Guide is printed on 100% recyled paper.
We will be sending out copies of the new Guide to customers over the next week or two. Where possible we will include these with orders to keep down both our carbon footprint and postage costs. Otherwise drop us a line and we'll make sure you get one. In the meantime you can download a PDF version of the Guide using the links opposite. There are two versions of different file sizes from which you can choose depending on your connection; either way you should save the file rather than attempting to open in your browser. Don't save it and print it out though - we've got plenty nice paper versions here to go around!
If you've got any comments on the paper vs. internet debate then please do let us know.
Tags: Products
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