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Non-Tech : PERFUMANIA.COM . . PRFM . . .FOR LONGS ONLY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TheLineMan who wrote (1269)	1/31/1999 1:52:00 AM
From: Rich Benjamin	Respond to of 2489

<<If they can't manage a bricks and mortar business why should the internet business be any more successful>> You must not know anything about the advantages of the Internet channel. Why do you think companies are moving their business online? A major reason is global reach with lower costs. Brick and mortar stores cost too much and are geographically limited. The difficulty with starting an Internet business is branding. Since Perfumania is established, they will have a much easier time branding their "Global Portal" for fragrances. Their plans to promote the site online and offline are promising. They have mentioned that their salespeople will be given commissions for sales online and customers will be given discounts for making purchases online. Sounds like an aggressive strategy to move their customer base online. Distribution is another challenge with an Internet channel. Perfumania's aggressive approach to signing up regional distributors for their products is very impressive. Sounds like they have a great vision that is being executed. We should hear much more about their vision on Monday.

To: TheLineMan who wrote (1269)	1/31/1999 2:05:00 AM
From: Rich Benjamin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2489

Oh yah, one more challenge... Customers that are new to the Internet may be afraid of security issues. They might not be comfortable purchasing products online. Purfumania has dealt with this issue by establishing a 1-800 number so customers can place orders over the phone. They can even set up order returns over the phone. This is important so that customers feel confident that they will be taken care of. Customer service is the name of the game. Pretty impressive indeed!!! By the way, on Monday I will be ordering some perfume for my wife and some cologne for myself. So I can vouch that Perfumania is establishing new customers via its Internet strategy.