Premier Farnell

Newark element14 (formerly Premier Farnell)                            

Premier Farnell’s element14 is a striking example of the trend toward professional online communities and marketplaces in Asia.

“This really addresses consumer behavior,” explains Nader Tadros, Singapore-based marketing and e-commerce director, Asia Pacific, for element14. “Throughout the R&D phase, there is a lot of discussion about prototyping and so forth. It’s not just straight-out transactions.

“[Design engineers] need to toggle between understanding their needs, understanding pricing, looking at ratings and reviews, and so on. There is a fluid motion between the community collaboration and the transaction portion [of our business]. So, having everything under one roof, from concept to designing all the way out to purchasing, is very much a value-add to our customers.”

Premier Farnell has long focused on higher-volume maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) business, and element14 represents the company’s effort to capture the more specialized, high-mix/lower-volume business of electronic design engineers. The name “element14” comes from the 14th element on the periodic table, silicon, which is the primary ingredient in semiconductors today and “a relevant component of our lives and the lives of our engineers,” Tadros explains.

Harriet Green, Chief Executive Officer

Company Headquarters: London

2011 Sales:$1.6 billion

Locations:Offices in more than 24 countries

Employees:4,100

Company website:   http://www.element14.com/community/index.jspa