Best Stores of the Ecommerce Web: Niche/Specialty Retailers

[mandy]

As the Internet draws out innovation in retailing, providing a business case for serving myriad niches, some of the more interesting and unusual consumer web sites will be found among non-apparel specialty merchants. Take AppliancePartsPros.com, which made Internet Retailer’s Top 50 Best of the Web list this year for its ability to use the web to serve a consumer need that would be difficult to serve offline.

Looking for a door gasket for your refrigerator or a blower wheel for your electric dryer? Going without such obscure items could mean days of spoiled food and backed-up laundry, yet getting your hands on replacements quickly could be a long shot. But with an extensive parts database served by effective site search and navigation functions, AppliancePartsPros.com has made finding such things an easy affair.

The Specialty/Non-Apparel section this year also includes seven retail sites in a sports/activities category, three that focus on pets and one that caters to car and truck owners. One thing they all have in common is a knack for providing a shopping experience that engages their customers and keeps them coming back...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=20670