Firms sample Web potential
By RICK REIKEN
(FEB. 24) -- Though it has only been weeks since antique dealer Jane Croston began selling her wares on the Internet, she now claims to be moving more pieces on the global computer system than at the antique centers in Hadley and Amherst that carry her merchandise.
Croston of Leverett has been in the antiques business 20 years. She says the Internet first intimidated her, but now, it's proving a delight. She is registered with a California-based online auction site -- www.ebay.com.
In her first two weeks, she watched a cache of items sell. Soon, checks appeared in her mailbox.
"Once I saw that this could work, I began posting every afternoon," she said. "I try to put up three or four things a day."
While most businesses that use the Internet have not garnered a dramatic boost in sales the way Croston has, a growing number of local businesses have taken the virtual plunge. They've set up Web sites to promote what they do, and reel in orders.
"The Internet was originally designed as an academic means of communication, and it's only in the last few years that entrepreneurs have been seeking out it's business potential," said Jeff Potter, a Web site designer whose clients include the Western Massachusetts Software Association and the Leeds Guitar Making School.
The growth of commercial Web sites has spurred some local businesses to fear that they not be left behind.
"If you want to be current, you have to have a presence there," said Victoria White, owner of the Internet Connection in Northampton. Her business has designed Web sites for clients ranging from children's book author Eric Carle to The Hotel Northampton.
"Primarily, it's keeping them competitive in 1997," White said.
This keeping-up-with-the-Jones' trend promises to make slick, interactive Web sites as standard as a fax machine or modem.
Success not yet determined
But so far, most who have shelled out for Web sites, or designed them in-house, see the Internet as one potential market strategy, the success of which has not yet been determined.
"I'd say the jury is still out as far as the actual business, though e-mail of course is very helpful," said Ivon Schmukler, owner of the Leeds Guitar Makers' School, on Route 10 in Northampton.
"The last thing I ever thought I would have in my guitar-making shop is a computer," he said.
Schmukler has had his Web site up and running a little less than a year. So far, the page has attracted one student from Sweden, who flew overseas to attend -- bringing in a $3,500 tuition payment.
"With that one student, it's paid for itself," said Schmukler. "Having a link to the rest of world is obviously helpful."
Douglas Creighton, who manages The Button Box -- an Amherst accordion and concertina shop that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx consulted with for her recent novel, "Accordion Crimes" -- says his experience online has been similar to that of Schmukler.
"So far I've only sold one big-ticket item through the Internet," said Creighton. The store's Web site has been running since last September.
"But through the (Internet) we're certainly reaching people who wouldn't have heard of us otherwise," he said.
It seems that many of those making use of the Internet deal in specialty, or one-of-a-kind items.
For instance, the Jeffery Amherst Book Shop, located not far from the home of famed poet Emily Dickinson, boasts one of the best collections of Dickinson books in the world.
Before putting up a Web site, the bookstore sent out an Emily Dickinson newsletter two or three times a year.
Now, the newsletter is transmitted via the store's Web site, which owner Howard Gersten says is used solely for the purpose of disseminating information. It also saves him the cost of the tri-annual mailings.
Asked whether he thinks the Internet will become a mandatory medium for retail sales, as more big-chain booksellers develop online ordering capacity, he said, "I don't think a (Web page) will become requisite. I suspect books will be around for thousands of years and I think people will always like to come into a store and browse."
Another specialty-item store that has recently made its appearance on the Internet is Northampton's Pride and Joy.
"Our focus is on the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual communities, so it's not stuff you're going to find at Caldor," said co-owner Beth Bellavance-Grace.
"We've done mailing all over the country from orders over the Web that we've gotten in the last few months," she added. "The store has received so many requests for a merchandise catalog that we'll soon have to (design) one."
And just around the corner in downtown Northampton, the environmentally oriented merchandise store Options plans to use its Web page to help promote an expansion in which the store will take on a line of alternative health products.
According to owner Patti Blain, Options will also use the Web site to attract new investors.
"We're looking to reposition our store and expand it, and in the expansion we have an opportunity to reach a much larger market through the Internet," she said.
White, the Internet Connection owner, points out that spending too much on a Web site is one common mistake people make.
"A lot of people think they have to spend $3,000, but that's not the case," she said. Her company's base price to create a Web page is $125.
Level the playing field
By making their merchandise available in cyberspace, businesses can work to level the playing field.
"It puts us right in the forefront, along with other companies," said Win Ridabock, who runs Silent Source, a home-based business dealing in interior acoustic products. Customers include recording studios or manufacturing companies seeking to contain noise.
"It's been fantastic...and has generated business," he said of the Web site he put up six months ago. "It's too early to tell how effective it is, but the cost of a Web site vs. the cost of a print advertisement -- dollar for dollar you can't beat it."
Back to News
| 
