Businesses Try Web to Snare New Customers

A waste of money.

That’s what Sohail Merchant’s dad thought a year ago when Sohail, an accountant quite familiar with cash flow concepts, suggested his parents launch a World Wide Web site to boost business at their then 2-year-old luggage store, the Luggage Merchant of Encino.

A one-man operation, the store had been doing so-so. Sohail thought it might be nice to get the word out to shoppers in the San Fernando Valley.

Today, an estimated 35% of the store’s sales come from customers who found it via the Web, many of whom hail from the East. Sohail Merchant says he is “shocked” by the response to the Web site (https://www.venturablvd.com/luggage-merchant).

And he says his father, 58-year-old Shokat Merchant, is “very happy, as you can imagine.”

“My parents are not Internet literate,” Sohail added, explaining that there is no computer in the small store because “my dad doesn’t know how to use it.” Sohail handles the online inquiries from his Woodland Hills office.

“Our basic idea was to put up a simple site . . . so that if somebody in the Valley needed luggage, they would be able to get it,” Sohail said. “The response was from all over the U.S. It’s just everybody, from all over, sending us e-mail.”

And eventually, sending orders.

While the e-commerce headlines are dominated by mammoths like Amazon.com and their ilk, tiny mom-and-pop shops across the Valley and the nation are quietly (and cautiously) warming up to the notion that if you build it, they will come.

Seeking to broaden their reach and bolster the cash box, they are launching Web sites that range from basic business card-type entries to elaborate 50-page multimedia productions with online commerce capabilities.

Although the results are mixed--with some local shop owners saying they’ve received nary an inquiry let alone a sale--experts say the march of small shops to the Web is, most likely, inexorable.

And for profit-minded Web designers, small-business owners now represent a lucrative target market.

A small-business survey released last month by the business-information giantDun & Bradstreet Corp. noted that small-business access to the Internet has increased substantially: from 47% in the 1997-98 survey to 57% in the current version. The 1997-98 survey placed the percentage of small businesses nationwide with Web sites at 35%.

And officials who track trends affecting small business insist the numbers are growing.

“We don’t have any empirical evidence, but it is obvious that small businesses must take into account this venue for selling their goods and services,” said Anita Drummond, director of communications for the Office of Advocacy with the U.S. Small Business Administration in Washington.

“For a small business that’s looking ahead, they know what they have to do.”

Perhaps more of them know now, but Bill Malin, owner of Sherman Oaks-based Web site designer Ventura Web, remembers a time not too long ago when “I couldn’t give away a Web site.”

Three years ago, Malin established what is perhaps the premier Valley-specific Web site, Ventura Blvd. on the Web (https://www.venturablvd.com), which hosts Web sites for all 9,700 businesses along busy Ventura Boulevard, plus a host of sites for shops elsewhere in the Valley. The vast majority are small businesses.

Only a small fraction--about 300--actually paid Malin to establish a Web site for them. The rest were done gratis to bolster the effectiveness of the site, Malin said, adding that some businesses might not even be aware they have a Web site.

When seeking to establish the site, which is essentially a cyber-mall, Malin sent out nearly 5,000 feelers to Valley businesses, seeking to launch them into cyberspace.

He got nothing.

“Nobody cared,” he said. “It was totally an outrageous idea. These people could easily understand why Coca-Cola should get a Web site, or why Xerox or IBM, but not a carwash in Tarzana.”

That was 1996.

Now, Malin said, with the growing acceptance of the Internet, the question his salespeople hear is not “Why do we need a Web site?” but “Why do we need one from you?”

He said the growing affection of small-business owners for the Internet has led to stepped-up competition among Web site designers for this vast, and mostly untapped, market.

And in the Valley, where small business remains the economic backbone, the competition is said to be especially keen.

“Just about any Web developer out there now is out there hustling small business,” Malin said.

The one big question mark is: Will launching a Web site actually make you any money?

As with any type of advertising outlays, there are no guarantees.

Even the Valley business owners who say their Web sites have netted them some cyber-cash concede that the Yellow Pages, that pre-cyber relic, still generates more traffic.

Still, most of those who have taken the plunge say their sites generate numerous sales leads and, in many cases, sales.

“The Internet is just the way to go now,” said Richard Carnes, whose family-owned Sunland Cycle & Fitness launched its Web site (https://www.sunlandfitness.com) about 2 years ago. He said the Web site has resulted in a 50% increase in business at his store, which employs five people (all family members, including him).

“In one week we got almost 200 hits. We get [inquiries from] people from San Diego, Big Bear,” said Carnes, whose father, Joe Carnes, founded the store as a bicycle shop in 1944. “I do get people from Japan wanting price quotes, but by the time you get done shipping, it can get a little expensive.”

Drummond, of the Small Business Administration, said most businesses that are retail-oriented, such as luggage and bicycle dealers, tend to do well on the Web. Less successful are service-oriented firms and companies like auto repair, where hands-on attention is required.

Fred Marlow, who owns Yates Auto Body and Paint in North Hollywood, thought a Web site would enhance his business.

So far, it hasn’t.

In the two years his site (https://www.venturablvd.com/lao/yates-auto-body) has been up, there have been only about 4,100 hits (low compared to other sites on Venturablvd.com).

“I find it’s increased a small percent, a very small percent, maybe 5%,” said Marlow, who was hoping for something more. “I would say it didn’t do what I wanted it to do. I really don’t know why.”

Likewise, Patty Ex, owner of Our Favorite Things gift shop (https://www.venturablvd.com/favorite-things) in Tarzana, is puzzled about why her year-old Web site, which attracted nearly 900 hits, produced just a few calls and no sales.

“Maybe if I had put more time into it,” she mused, noting, “I don’t even have a fax machine.”

The question is somewhat moot now, because Ex plans to close the store later this year.

Ex and other shop owners noted that the temptation to join other cyber-merchants was enhanced by the fairly inexpensive entry fee.

For a setup fee of a few hundred dollars (for a basic site), you can reach the world.

“Ours is not the most expensive Web site out there, but it’s a start,” said Marie Sabatine, owner of Pets Naturally, a 4-year-old Sherman Oaks-based health food store for pets. The Web site for her store (https://www.venturablvd.com/pets-naturally), which has one employee, launched about a week ago. “Any other form of advertisement that I’ve tried has brought us zero,” she said.

Sabatine’s first inquiry was from a gentleman in Canada with an ailing cat. She plans to refer him to a homeopathic vet in Florida.

While marveling at the Web’s ability to facilitate networking among kindred spirits, Sabatine’s goals for her store’s Web site are much more pragmatic.

“No. 1, I’m hoping that it will bring business to my store,” said Sabatine. “Until now we’ve relied on word of mouth.

“PetsMart and PetCo can afford TV advertising; I can’t. Twenty-four, seven they’re on the TV. I didn’t know of any other avenue to try.”

* CYBER CENTER: Valley a hub for Internet hardware and software enterprises. B6