GC.CATALOG — using the catalogue
GC.CATALOG is an online catalogue that lets you quickly search for goods and order them online. The guide below demonstrates the catalogue using the automotive industry as an example.
Product search by number
Text search of products by number, OE numbers, EAN code, etc. is always available from the menu at the top of the page. To limit the number of results you can use the restrictions shown in the images (Show: Everywhere / Number / Numbers (including OE) / EAN), and also set an exact search for the entered phrase.
Let's illustrate with an example. A customer is looking for a product whose packaging shows a particular number:
The product you are looking for is at the top of the results, but the list also shows many other products linked to this number through technical description, cross references, OE number, etc.
Limiting the search to range Number and setting Search: Exact reduces the number of products shown.
Searching by range Everywhere without the Exact option also has advantages. For example, below you can see that for a phrase with two spelling errors the catalogue still shows the correct results (typed "breake floid" — found "brake fluid").
Vehicle selection
You can search for a vehicle in several ways. Besides the most obvious — selecting Make / Model / Type — you can search by the most popular makes, by VIN number (if you have an agreement with the supplier of such data), or by text such as "passat b8", which greatly limits the number of results.
Let's take searching by popular makes as an example. If you select Audi from the list of popular makes, set the year of production and engine power, it significantly speeds up vehicle selection and avoids scrolling through long lists of vehicle types — usually leaving you with one or at most a few vehicles to choose from.
Search results
The image below shows sample search results for the selected vehicle.
- The selected vehicle is shown above the results so the user is aware which vehicle parts are being matched for.
- Filters appear on the left to narrow down the results. You can also narrow results by clicking filter values shown directly on a product.
- On the right, tabs are available: Details, Cross references, Used in.
- Directly above the results on the left, a button switches the display options (simplified view and normal view). On the right, you can select the price shown (net/gross) or the available currencies.
A useful feature available for many product groups: selecting "Water Pump" for a specific vehicle type instantly shows a Belt set category in the filters section, which is often searched together with the water pump. Similarly, selecting the Maintenance service parts category immediately shows the most frequently selected air filters, oil filters, oil, etc. for a given vehicle on one screen. This saves search time for the selected vehicle type.
For your convenience the catalogue offers dedicated search engines, such as for tyres, oils or batteries. For example, by specifying key criteria you can easily find matching tyres.