NFIB

Focusing On a Niche Brought Online Success
04/ 15/ 2002

by Lisa Waddle

The two biggest mistakes small business owners make when entering e-commerce: thinking the Net requires a completely different business strategy, or assuming it's no different from traditional business operations. As Orlando, Fla.-based Restaurant Equipment WorldT (REW) shows, the truth is a mixture of both.

For 25 years, REW has sold everything used in restaurants, from deep fryers to mops to blenders. Three years ago, the company put up its first Web site. Today e-commerce is 50 percent of the family-owned company's business.

Not bad considering REW started with a free Web site from America Online that was "useless," admits Bradley E. Pierce, REW's chief information officer and son of company founder and President Jerry Pierce. Slow to load, with no ordering capability and a long address even employees couldn't remember, the site brought no sales.

So REW started asking customers what would make them buy online. For starters, an easy-to-remember Web address. REW is now at http://www.REWonline.com. REW also created its own site search engine. To exploit Internet shoppers' niche focus, REW created a Web site for each category of its products, then linked those sites to the main REW site. Today there are 120 narrowly focused Web sites, selling everything from popcorn poppers (http://www.popperworld.com) to blenders (http://www.blenderworld.com), all linked to REW's main Web site.

REW's customer-centered attitude extends to the full-time staff hired to handle online shoppers. Customers can instantly check the status of their orders and each time something happens relating to their order-payment is received or the order is shipped - the customer is notified by email.

REW's online venture has cost about $1 million, Bradley says, noting the need to hire patent and trademark attorneys to protect their unique search engine and linking system. "Many small things add up quickly which are often not thought of when creating an online enterprise," he says. The payoffs, though, include a 55 percent sales growth per quarter and an increase in international sales. The Web site has also increased sales at REW's Orlando retail store, which is doubling in size to 20,000 square feet. The company has a total of 25 employees.

REW isn't done, either. They've recently offered wireless access to their site for Palm VII customers. "We embrace change," Bradley says. "It's a way to bring our showroom directly to the customer instead of having them come to us."

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This article originally appeared in the January/February 2001 issue of MyBusiness Magazine, NFIB's member magazine.

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