News & Events
Pioneer Valley e-commerce
December 15, 2007
reprinted from the Amherst (MA) Bulletin December 14, 2007
Dabbling in e-commerce
Those who have embraced e-commerce say online sales remain a small but important part of their business.
Laurel Mountain Gift Baskets has been selling its variety of theme-based gift baskets online for nearly the entire six years it has been in business. While local corporate clients make up the bulk of her business, owner Marie Lisewski said she hired a Web site design expert shortly after starting the company in hopes of boosting the company's profile.
"I'm not sure a local economy can support my business, and I wanted to broaden out," she said.
The design company set up the basic site and the software that allows her to process credit card orders, but she is responsible for keeping the site updated. That can be time-consuming, she said.
Lisewski said it has taken a while to develop the site, which she equates to running two stores. "You have to be able to juggle both and stay on top of both, especially the Web site," she said.
Another difficulty is setting her gift baskets apart from the thousands of other companies that offer such a product. That's why she's chosen to specialize in a specific New England theme called Yankee gift baskets and to buy a Web site domain that carries that theme name.
Online sales make up about 25 percent of Laurel Mountain's business. To her surprise, many of her sales are from people outside of New England shipping a basket to others outside of New England.
