Booting Up Your Business

By last October, Brian Hanson knew he had to hurry up and expand the operations of the Portland, Maine, seafood store that had been in his family for three generations. Space wasn't exactly the problem; he and one of his partners, Walter Compare Jr., had just moved Hanson Bros. Fresh Seafood to larger quarters in the newly built Portland Public Market. But there were rumors floating around town of a new digital form of competition. "One guy sold $1 million worth of live Maine lobsters online around Christmas," says Hanson. "That's when we do most of our business."

The best way to fight e-commerce, Hanson decided, was to join it. So, last fall he began shopping around for a way to establish a presence on the Internet. He contacted local Internet service providers (ISPs) and asked other small-business owners about their experiences. He settled on Global Store globalstore.net) a company that offered to get him uploaded and running for $5,000, plus $150 a month for maintenance.

So far, that investment is paying off. Since mid-February, when Hanson launched www.seafoodnow.com his online sales have grown 15% a week. In one week late last month, he made $5,000, more than six times what he made in his first week online and a solid showing during a time of year when business is traditionally slow. Customers from as far away as Alaska are using the Web to purchase the same 78 products the store sells in Portland, including jumbo gulf shrimp, live Maine lobsters and even Alaskan king-crab legs. Just as importantly, from Hanson's point of view, taking orders over the Internet has freed up some of his 30 employees to help customers at the store's counter. "I couldn't afford to have people on the phone all day processing orders," he says. "The website is a gift from the heavens."

What Hanson's experience points to is the fact that a business owner doesn't have to be the size of Amazon.com to take advantage of the Internet. By the thousands, small business owners are following in Hanson's briny footsteps. Only a year or so ago, getting up on the Web was a major effort and expense. Businesses had to turn to Internet service providers, web-page designers and Web consultants to set up a website that could easily cost tens of thousands of dollars. But in the past year, all that has changed. Thanks to increased competition among providers and improved technology everywhere, a growing number of one-stop shops can create an e-commerce website for as little as $200 or $300. That's a pittance compared with the riches to be potentially made in cyberspace. Last year nearly 9 million U.S. households shopped online, generating $7.8 billion in revenues, a number that is expected to grow to $108 billion by 2003, according to Forrester Research, a technology market research firm, based in Cambridge, Mass. Whether you're looking to set up e-mail relationships with your customers, build a small brochure site to advertise your wares, or construct a full-fledged e-commerce site to sell a wide range of products, there are plenty of providers who will help from start to finish.