06-14-2006, 05:48 PM
press release #5 issued by eBay today:
Quote:Entrepreneur and ProStores Select Six Small Businesses for E-Commerce Transformation
eBusiness Boost Challenge Winners to Receive E-Commerce, Design and Marketing Makeovers of Their Online Businesses
-Entrepreneur magazine and ProStores, an eBay Company, announced yesterday the six winners of the eBusiness Boost Challenge during eBay Live! at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. ProStores will transform the design and functionality of the online stores for the winners. The winning companies offer diverse products such as jewelry, knitting supplies, educational toys for toddlers and ski wax.
Entrepreneurs operating on the Internet or through a brick-and-mortar store, submitted entries describing their businesses, products and vision of the value that an enhanced online presence would bring to their companies. The entries were evaluated by representatives from ProStores, Entrepreneur, PayPal, Inc., and About.com's Online Business/ Hosting Guide.
"The stories behind the entrepreneurs selected for an e-commerce makeover will be tremendously instructive for business owners everywhere," said Rieva Lesonsky, program judge and editorial director of Entrepreneur. "These six business owners clearly demonstrated that they understand the importance of converting inspiration and innovation into practical and successful online businesses."
The winners include:
* Moms on Edge, LLC (www.momsonedge.com) - Elena Neitlich of Osprey, Fla., was constantly seeking ways to keep her children from popping out of bed at night. Neitlich and her friend, Cari Whiddon, another stay-at-home mom, invented devices to instill "peace, quite and good behavior" to help parents raise "well-mannered, well-behaved and well-adjusted kids." With products ranging from a time-out mat to bathtub dice depicting body parts to be washed, Moms on Edge sells to children's boutiques. However, said Neitlich, "We have not penetrated a national retailer, our e-commerce system is less flexible than we would like, overseas manufacturing is slow and unreliable, and our online marketing is only break-even."
* American Diamond Importers (www.americandiamondimporters.com) - Patrick Coughlin operates an independent jewelry store in St. Clair, Mich., that has experienced steady growth since it opened in 1992. The company, however, faces severe competitive challenges from other Internet-based stores. Coughlin wants to commit to an aggressive Internet e-commerce presence and marketing campaign to sell his jewelry throughout the United States. "Internet sales are a must to survive and grow," he said.
* Spirit Work Knitting and Designs, Inc. (www.spiritworkknit.com) - Pamela Huber-Hauck left a job as a corporate vice president to open a Web site offering yarn and knitting supplies from her base in Rochester, N.Y. The three-year-old company underwent explosive growth in its first two years but then saw business drop off significantly. "Our shopping cart is a year old and our application falls short," said Huber-Hauck. "Since there are yarn Web sites doing e-commerce well, we are on hold."
* The Busted Knuckle Garage (www.bustedknucklegarage.com) - Warren Tracy of Prescott, Ariz., runs a gift company that offers 150 distinctive, branded items for car and motorcycle enthusiasts. He sells through his Web site, wholesale to catalogs and retail stores and through licensing agreements. He hopes to grow retail demand through his Web site but said, "I've had a Web site for five years, and it's an underachiever. I want to pursue visibility options on the Web that make it known."
* Racewax.com, LLC (www.racewax.com) - Marc Desrosiers of Waynesboro, Pa., operates a global ski/snowboard wax and accessories company exclusively through the Internet. His idea for the company was born from his son's science-fair project. As a Ph.D. chemist, Dr. Desrosiers formulated a faster wax for a lower price. He anticipates expansions in production, assembly and fulfillment efforts, which, he noted, "should be achieved through technology, not added manpower." With no formal business training, he said, "the advice of seasoned experts is a dire need. To date, our business successes have been realized through basic instinct, rather than known practices. A shopping cart that integrates shipping and inventory management is needed to reduce unnecessary labor."
* Essenceology.com (www.essenceology.com) - Maggie Vasilyadis of New York City sells natural-based bath and body products, as well as niche accessories, in her online company newly launched in January, 2006. She realizes the potential of her Internet store but needs help. "My Web site must be redesigned to look more professional," she says. "It should be more user-friendly, easier to navigate and better organized by category. It also must be search-engine optimized for better results. I know Essenceology.com can be a huge success with the proper technical and marketing resources."
"ProStores is delighted to have the opportunity to work with these very innovative entrepreneurs and provide a boost to help them reach their next level of business success," said Chris Tsakalakis, vice president of Advanced Solutions for eBay. "We'll be offering the advice of some of the world's most knowledgeable online-business professionals and assistance to each of the winners in building a new e-commerce site that takes advantage of ProStores' powerful features."
ProStores enables small- and medium-sized businesses to create a professional online store, customized with their own branding and domain name, and with features usually found only on the e-commerce sites of much larger corporations. Each winner will receive a one-year subscription to a ProStores Business tier store along with Web design services plus up to 20 hours of updates and maintenance to assist in the setup of a new online store.
The six eBusiness Boost Challenge winners will also be featured in the November issue of Entrepreneur magazine and on Entrepreneur.com. They will receive consulting services from the judging team, including Entrepreneur, About.com, PayPal, ProStores and eBay representatives.
Additional contributors to the makeovers include Neoverve (www.neoverve.com, advanced ProStores customization and search engine optimization) and Yahoo! Search Marketing (searchmarketing.yahoo.com, paid search advertising).
