MSC Industrial Supply / Product Categories Page
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MSC Industrial Supply / Home Page
MSC Industrial Supply 3/1995 - 7/2011
Before there were roles like UX Designer, Researcher or Information Architect, there was one catch-all position called “webmaster.” I became the webmaster for mscdirect.com in 1997, and immediately began researching our competition to find out what kind of features they offered on the web and created matrices for the c-level strategists to review.
I also had to visit and interview many different customer types to see what kind of experience they hoped to get out of our site. They gave us a great deal of insight as to the direction to move in. They were looking for personal lists, express checkout, blanket POs, EDI ordering, an online version of our catalogs, etc.
I was the point person for all interface and user experience design prooblems. I used many methods to derive the optimal customer experience, including defining business goals and technical specifications, competitive analysis reports, card sorting, creating personas, sitemaps, user journeys and flows, wireframes and interactive prototypes.
I established a heirarchical purchasing system with buyers, requisitioners and admins each with spending limits and an approval system; created personal lists; designed customized EDI portals for ordering through Ariba; customized search functionality; established an online version of the master catalog and all monthly publications; and ran the day-to-day operations while maintaining all frone-end code.
