Having used McMaster Carr several times with not a clue as to the correct search terms, I must disagree with your assertion that the site only caters to those w

Having used McMaster Carr several times with not a clue as to the correct search terms, I must disagree with your assertion that the site only caters to those who know what they are looking for. Vague search terms will give you results more reasonable than I would expect. Every product category and refinable search field has a useful description to help you figure out what you want to search for and how to refine your search. Additionally, broad searches show multiple categories so that you can quickly figure out what categories are even available to start from. Granted, if you do not know what to search for at first, it will take several iterations and some reading to get there, but the critical part is that you can. When I have used McMaster Carr, my experience starting from ignorance has been better than all other e-commerce sites I have used, even when I know what I am looking for on those other sites. The only exception is when I have an exact brand and model I want.