Local Businesses Look To Internet For Growth
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Every day the Internet grows by leaps and bounds, so it's no surprise that local businesses are posting sites to upscale their sales or make shopping easier for customers.
Two area service providers are working hard to provide local businesses the services they need to use and maintain their web sites.
"The services that we provide are very much geared toward business," said John Webster of KCOnline.
KCOnline represents approximately 100 local businesses with Internet services that range from web sites to electronic mail only.
More businesses are ready to take the plunge onto the 'net. "Just in the last three or four months there have been another group of businesses that has said 'We need a presence on the Internet,'" Webster said.
Phil Lewis of WaveOne, another area service provider, sees the Internet as an equalizer between big business and small business. "The Internet is much more important to local business than large international business," he said. "Big business has no advantage on the Internet. The Internet is a great leveler. Small businesses can have just as effective a presence on the Internet as a large business."
Lewis see the Internet as a new revolution in business. "We're shooting for the Internet to become the preferred way to order pizza and a movie. There's enough people out there to do this," he said.
Lewis believes the Internet is the safest way to purchase products. "People have security issues. They're gonna ask about 'hacker this' and 'hacker that.' There is more security in online buying and selling than there is in any other form of commerce," he said.
Owen's Supermarket has had a site on the Internet for almost one year. General manager John Russo felt they were a bit premature in posting a site, but said it will be necessary for his business in the future. "We wanted to try and get people acclimated to the site and to the Internet," he said.
Russo says they've received a good response from the site. "It's hard to get out there on search engines, so we try and advertise," he said. "We put an add in the paper, and on the register receipts we print 'Visit our website.' We're getting requests for deliveries and requests for online shopping."
While online shopping and grocery delivery are becoming a reality in larger markets such as Indianapolis, Russo believes Warsaw won't be ready for a few years. "There's so many issues to be covered," he said. "Would you trust a utility clerk to pick out a nice chuck roast for you or a package of tomatoes? I don't know if people would feel comfortable with doing that."
Another business taking advantage of the Internet is Chalet Reality. The Syracuse agency's site gives users the ability to glance at photos of current listings to help attract potential buyers.
"We've been getting e-mail from all over the country," said Chalet's Rick Pinney. "It's one more way to advertise, and we're getting a lot of traffic."
Rather than farm out control of his site, Pinney chose to control it himself. "We wanted the ability to have a new holding up on the site the next day," he said.
Blosser's Camera and Video, Warsaw, also has joined the worldwide computer network. While their site is incomplete, it gives users a general feeling of the store's merchandise.
Owner Tom Skaggs says he plans to improve the site and hopes to reach out to local consumers in a more productive manner.
"Essentially we got on the 'net because everyone else was. Even though I haven't done near enough with it, I want it to be a place where people can get a good feel for the type of store that I am."
Skaggs says he'd like to sell cameras over the 'net, but the competition is steep.
"There are already very large catalog type sales people that work on a far lower margin than I do, and I cannot compete head to head with their prices," he said. "... What I can do is have the information so that locally I can have someone in, say, Kokomo or Rochester drive up here so they can have someone they can talk to and get help with, for the same reason our other basic business works."
Other area businesses, such as the Barbee Hotel, are not ready to jump onto the web. The upscale restaurant and hotel's owner, Phil Fozo, feels the investment would not pay off.
"Financially I can't see it doing me any good," Fozo said. " ... I can't say that people coming to and from Warsaw are going to go on the Internet to see hotels and restaurants in the area."
With estimates that the number of area people gaining access to the world wide web is doubling monthly, local businesses may not be able to ignore the power of the Internet.
"More and more people see that you can't go anywhere - you can't go on television, you can't read a magazine or any other advertising medium - without them talking about the Internet," Webster said. [[In-content Ad]]
Every day the Internet grows by leaps and bounds, so it's no surprise that local businesses are posting sites to upscale their sales or make shopping easier for customers.
Two area service providers are working hard to provide local businesses the services they need to use and maintain their web sites.
"The services that we provide are very much geared toward business," said John Webster of KCOnline.
KCOnline represents approximately 100 local businesses with Internet services that range from web sites to electronic mail only.
More businesses are ready to take the plunge onto the 'net. "Just in the last three or four months there have been another group of businesses that has said 'We need a presence on the Internet,'" Webster said.
Phil Lewis of WaveOne, another area service provider, sees the Internet as an equalizer between big business and small business. "The Internet is much more important to local business than large international business," he said. "Big business has no advantage on the Internet. The Internet is a great leveler. Small businesses can have just as effective a presence on the Internet as a large business."
Lewis see the Internet as a new revolution in business. "We're shooting for the Internet to become the preferred way to order pizza and a movie. There's enough people out there to do this," he said.
Lewis believes the Internet is the safest way to purchase products. "People have security issues. They're gonna ask about 'hacker this' and 'hacker that.' There is more security in online buying and selling than there is in any other form of commerce," he said.
Owen's Supermarket has had a site on the Internet for almost one year. General manager John Russo felt they were a bit premature in posting a site, but said it will be necessary for his business in the future. "We wanted to try and get people acclimated to the site and to the Internet," he said.
Russo says they've received a good response from the site. "It's hard to get out there on search engines, so we try and advertise," he said. "We put an add in the paper, and on the register receipts we print 'Visit our website.' We're getting requests for deliveries and requests for online shopping."
While online shopping and grocery delivery are becoming a reality in larger markets such as Indianapolis, Russo believes Warsaw won't be ready for a few years. "There's so many issues to be covered," he said. "Would you trust a utility clerk to pick out a nice chuck roast for you or a package of tomatoes? I don't know if people would feel comfortable with doing that."
Another business taking advantage of the Internet is Chalet Reality. The Syracuse agency's site gives users the ability to glance at photos of current listings to help attract potential buyers.
"We've been getting e-mail from all over the country," said Chalet's Rick Pinney. "It's one more way to advertise, and we're getting a lot of traffic."
Rather than farm out control of his site, Pinney chose to control it himself. "We wanted the ability to have a new holding up on the site the next day," he said.
Blosser's Camera and Video, Warsaw, also has joined the worldwide computer network. While their site is incomplete, it gives users a general feeling of the store's merchandise.
Owner Tom Skaggs says he plans to improve the site and hopes to reach out to local consumers in a more productive manner.
"Essentially we got on the 'net because everyone else was. Even though I haven't done near enough with it, I want it to be a place where people can get a good feel for the type of store that I am."
Skaggs says he'd like to sell cameras over the 'net, but the competition is steep.
"There are already very large catalog type sales people that work on a far lower margin than I do, and I cannot compete head to head with their prices," he said. "... What I can do is have the information so that locally I can have someone in, say, Kokomo or Rochester drive up here so they can have someone they can talk to and get help with, for the same reason our other basic business works."
Other area businesses, such as the Barbee Hotel, are not ready to jump onto the web. The upscale restaurant and hotel's owner, Phil Fozo, feels the investment would not pay off.
"Financially I can't see it doing me any good," Fozo said. " ... I can't say that people coming to and from Warsaw are going to go on the Internet to see hotels and restaurants in the area."
With estimates that the number of area people gaining access to the world wide web is doubling monthly, local businesses may not be able to ignore the power of the Internet.
"More and more people see that you can't go anywhere - you can't go on television, you can't read a magazine or any other advertising medium - without them talking about the Internet," Webster said. [[In-content Ad]]