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To: H James Morris who wrote (80977)	10/17/1999 4:19:00 PM
From: re3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164687

James, you can read some canuck articles on the market here... nationalpost.com

To: H James Morris who wrote (80977)	10/17/1999 4:53:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164687

First, I'd spend a thousand $bucks and bring in a professional. You need to add some glitz, and bring in some GUI. You can also partner with some of your peers and I think you'll find some Jeweler co-op content is easier to find than you think. James, I obtained three quotes to write a site with a bit fewer pages than the one I wrote. The lowest quote was $5K so I read a book on HTML in three hours. I need lots of improvements. I can't say professional help would not be a good idea. It just is not worth the prices being asked as though I don't have a clue how this works. I plan to partner and am moving along that way with the manufacturers. It is their products I sell too. Many promised to mail CDs to me with lots of digital content. Content has been the major time issue and thast is something that I could hire someone in high school or college to place online as time permits. I'm doing the same at Flex behind the screens, but I'm pretty much leaving it alone right now as far as our current customers are concerned. Because at least we're functional. This is interesting because my plan is really not to sell much on the net at least outside our market. I can't think of a good reason to buy here if I lived hundreds or thousands of miles away. The little coupon I put up works. We advertise the site along with the regular store advertisements and people do print the coupon and come in for the additional 15%. Re:Your son. Don't worry. I have a friend of mine Alvin Goldfarb. He, and his sons are probably the most successful independent Jeweler in the state Washington, and they only have one store. Being in Bellevue (near the Msft campus hasn't hurt either). I am teaching my son the old fashion way too. Customer service, professionalism is what counts. I do not have the very high-end clientle since there are few that live in the area with a large amount of money. At the risk of sounding like a braggart, I opened the store in Meadville in 1979 and at that time, there were six competing stores. Now there are only three competing stores and we have more than 90% of the entire market. There is not a lot more growth to be had here. The worst thing that can happen is the three remaining competitors fold up and then my customers have nothing with which to compare us. After observing Ebay, my concern stems from being in a market that is growing slowly. If 10% of that market buys online for whatever reason, I lose sales. It's a pity that you didn't start your business in Seattle,Portland,SF (SV) or Orange county. If you would had 12 years ago, you could buy out Bezo tomorrow, or leave it until next year, after his stock gets substantially less expensive.;-) I suppose this area has treated me well. There is likely lots more money in other areas. This I find interesting. The few wealthy people in this area shop in Pittsburgh. They must feel there is a better selection in larger cities. We are 100 mile from Pittsburgh. There is also a small lake around here call Conneaut Lake and the reasonably wealthy Pittsburgh residents own cottages there. They feel like they are in the country<G> The lake is crowded so it is far from country but that is not the point. Many of these well healed cottage owners shop at my store. They say we are much lower in price and have a much greater selection than any store in Pittsburgh. They even drive up in the winter for their holiday shopping. My only point is either the local wealthy are incorrect or the Pittsburgh wealthy are incorrect. They both cannot be correct<G>