Market expertise, process flows and an understanding of market dynamics including supply chain management and value chain integration, are essential and must be built into the methodology of the site, along with flexibility. In this context, catalog content refers to the database mechanism used for storing and accessing the product information. Custom catalog content requires the development of comprehensive master templates summarizing relevant parameters for each product so that items can be easily found and procured. This type of content is not information that is simply pulled from another place on the web. It requires a great deal of effort to generate, aggregate and maintain this content.
Semiconductor manufacturers require information about their material suppliers.
Some of this information, including manufacturing locations, technical areas of expertise, core competencies, quality achievements, metrology capabilities, key alliances and joint ventures, and things of this nature can be summarized and provided in a profile online. However, generating this information requires cooperation with the suppliers, not only to ensure accuracy and objectivity, but also to allow the suppliers to differentiate themselves. Semiconductor materials are highly engineered products, not commodities, and buying decisions require concise and timely information. In addition, suppliers often times want to better understand their customer base, and therefore similar types of profiles for the semiconductor manufacturers are quite useful. Additional examples of specialized content include semiconductor and material market trend data, market share information, material technology overviews, material pricing trends, lists of industry associations, and lists of industry consultants.