VIRTUAL RETAILING

Urban Evolutions advertises in the big cities in California a and New York, but the company has also built a huge following for its products in Idaho and Arizona, where it does little advertising

Jeff Green, Internet sales associate with the Menasha-based architectural salvage firm, credits

Urban Evolutions (formerly Urban Artifacts) sells salvaged architectural elements such as tin ceilings, wood flooring, structural timbers and beams through its own Web site, as well as online auction giant eBay.

"We list about 130 auctions week, just selling tin ceilings," says Green, who started bolstering the business' online presence about four months ago.

"The market for this kind of product is just starting to open up online," Green says. "Things have been going very well.

Building contractors, homeowners looking to spruce up their digs and businesses from all over North America are now buying from the Fox Cities company.

Urban Evolutions counts itself among the many Northeast Wisconsin companies expanding their marketing reach by heading into cyberspace.

Fox Stamp, Sign and Specialty in Menasha-once a strictly local retailer -now sells its rubber stamps, embossers and engraved signs, as well as other products through a virtual store on Yahoo!, the major Internet portal and search engine that rents space to companies.

"It was a cost factor," says Jon Zeininger, president of the small business. "For us to develop our own store with the ability to accept secure payments and add a shopping cart, was definitely more expensive than going this route."

As a result, potential customers have two entryways to Fox Stamp's offerings-through its own home page and through a search on Yahoo! The portal-based store shows only a portion of Fox Stamp's inventory, but it provides a link to the business' official Web site for more options.

"We've had a lot of people find us through the site," says Zeininger. "We had one guy from Japan, who continues to contact us. We gave him the name of several local or international contacts, but he insists he wants to buy from us. Unfortunately we don't export."

On of the great attractions of the Internet-the ability to shop anytime from anywhere-has brought customers to the company's Web site. By utilizing e-commerce, local businesses meet people and find buyers they otherwise never would have reached.

"We once had a guy in the middle of the desert in Arizona find us at 2 in the morning," says Zeininger.

Fox Stamp received recognition from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce in February, winning the "David and Goliath" award.

The award credits manufacturers who blend technical innovations and production.

"It was a real surprise," Zeininger says. "The announcer started telling a story about a business that got its start in the basement in 1953. I turned to my wife and said 'Wow! There's another business that got started in a basement in 1953.' Within a few minutes, I realized they were talking about us."

When compared to other much larger corporations' Web sites, Fox Stamp's Internet presence held its own on design and usability.

Zeininger remains humble but grounded about the recognition. "We're just a small company with a decent Web site doing some big thingsnothing earth-shattering mind you, but we're doing good."

However, the Internet store does more than boost sales. Through a client extranet, loyal buyers can make simple changes to orders they often repeat.

Without talking to a company representative, a customer can change a name, address or other information on a stamp or sign electronically.

In fact, nationally many small- and medium-sized businesses use the Internet extensively, but shy away from the e-commerce arm, according to a report by CyberAtlas.com, a Web tracking and consulting firm.

In fact, less than 40 percent of businesses nationwide employing 100 or fewer people have a Web site and actively use it to promote or expand business.

Of that percentage, most are niche businesses looking for a very specific target market.

For Urban Evolutions, there's a very specialized market for the company's products, so using the Internet has proven a successful tool for seeking those customers out, Green says.

"The Internet has been crucial in developing long-term contacts," Green added.

He keeps in close contact with the winners of Urban Evolutions' auctions, a percentage of sales that is quickly reaching 25 percent.

"Normally if they buy one thing, they're looking for 10 more," Green says.

For other businesses, the Internet serves as the core of its sales.

CagesByDesign.com, a Neenah-based business that sells reptile and bird cages, reaches its target market via its catalog and Web site.

"We use the catalog to drive people to our Web site, and we use the Web site to drive people to our catalog," says Adam Keller, who owns CagesByDesign.com. with brother Rustin.

The business has no bricks-and-mortar storefront-only office space with a few sample designs. In fact, the company has sold only about 10 cages in Wisconsin, Keller says.

"We sell mostly wherever the population is densest-New York, California," Keller says. He's even shipped as far as South Korea.

The company started out as a college project in 1997. The first year sales reached $20,000. This year, sales increased to $500,000, a number Keller expects to double by the end of 2003.

Because CagesByDesign.com tracks the number of visitors to its site, Keller has noticed a marked growth due to increased advertising of the Web address and a new product line.

"Before, we sold only reptile cages, but now we launched a new line of reptile and bird cages that we've been working on for several years," Keller says.

With the new merchandise comes a revamped Web site. The online storefront now includes a calculator that allows customers to design their own cage-choosing dimensions, interior and materials-and comes up with an estimated price quote.

Since the Oct. 1 release of the new products, the company has seen on -line requests for catalogs grow from about 10 per week, to more than 50 per week, Keller says.

CagesBydesign.com is among the numerous U.S. catalog businesses taking their pages paperless. In fact, interactive commerce-as the industry calls Internet marketing-will constitute $41.5 billion of the $125 billion catalog industry by the end of 2003, according to the Direct Marketing Association.

"Ninety-eight present of direct marketers have an online presence," the New York-based trade association reports.

Postage increases and the decrease in technology prices have contributed to this Internet evolution.

In the 1990s, the first surge of early adopters hit the Internet and got into e-commerce. The dot-com fallout led many to close up shop, and those who hadn't made the leap to stay away.

A more conservative approach to Internet business has taken hold, report experts. Entrepreneurs are heading back to the Internet, but at a slow and steady pace. The recent national security issues, coupled with plaguing discomfort about identification fraud, has made it even more drawn out.

CyberAtlas predicts that within the next year, a large percentage of small businesses will make moves toward e-commerce, whether that means actually selling on-line or simply investing in the infrastructure to perform such activities.

Local business owners say that enough people prefer to buy on-line to make it a worthwhile investment, but that many consumers still want traditional methods of purchasing goods.

CagesByDesign.com takes phone and mail-in orders from the catalog. Urban Evolutions also does much of its business through retailers and its factory outlet store, and at shows and conventions.

Although the Internet is an important part of Fox Stamp's marketing strategy, on-line sales have not yet grown to the point where they constitute a significant percentage of the company's $1 million-plus sales, Zeininger says.

"It's a growing part of our business but well never be able to turn off the phone lines or shut the doors," Zeininger says.