New-Tech Europe | December 2016 | Didital Edition

Digi-key and the European Electronic Market

Tatiana Yamin, New-Tech Europe

At the 'electronica 2016' in Munich we got a few minutes to sit down for an interview with Tom Treichl, Digi- key's Senior Director of Production Business. Q: What is your forecast for Digi-Key's growth in the next few years? A: We expect to continue along the same course. We see an increase in our customer's account, and intend to broaden our supply base even further, in order to target a wider range of

customers. This development continues as we move into 2017. Specifically in the European market, we have seen a nice growth over the years. Despite a small 'hiccup' last year, due to many currency headwinds, we are back on track, and should see over 20% growth this year in EMEA. Q: What are Digi-Key's unique strengths in the global marketplace? A: I believe that Digi-Key has three main strengths that draw customers worldwide: our inventory, which is the largest,

most diversified of its kind in the world; our website, offering huge quantities of information, as well as great mix of products; and our highly popular EDA engineering tools. Digi-Key is definitely committed to the engineering community and enhancing our digital relationship. Many engineers say they like our website because it is so user- friendly, and we see that our website traffic has increased. I just came out of a meeting with a customer who said: "If it's not on the Digi-Key's website, we won't use it for our design." To me this just about says it all…

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