[SkyPuncher]

Don't get me wrong, I love McMaster - but I feel like people attempt to over apply their patterns everywhere else.

I feel like all of the discussion misses a key point - when you shop on McMaster, you already have a very detailed idea of what you're looking for. McMaster becomes rather difficult to use if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Many of the product categories get rolled up as representative products. Many products have meaningful variations nested deep. It's very hard to quickly scroll through a list of items to figure out what might be represent you needs.

Now, that's not necessarily a problem McMaster should fix. They cater to the professional market. They cater to people who know exactly what they want. They can do this because their products are mostly derived off market standards.

There's a _very_ good chance that your user base won't be the same. There's a very good chance that your user base won't know they need a "Surface-Mount Lift-Off Hinges with Holes made of stainless with XYZ dimensions".