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2005-09-20
Experience the Success Thousands Have Achieved; AIT Simplifies E-commerce Hosting
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., Sep 20, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Dan Sallis has been racing motorcycles for about ten years, and has always had difficulty finding replacement parts. When he found that fellow had the same problem, Sallis and Jodie Barr put 1tail.com online for competitive racers and weekend enthusiasts. "We weren't sure if a small business like this could succeed on the Internet, but the response has been overwhelming," says Barr, who is the company's President. Sallis is the Chief Technical Officer.
A handful of products has grown into a digital superstore that reaches a national market 24 hours a day, and Barr and Sallis are not alone. The US Commerce Department says digital sales posted their highest increase in three years last quarter, and earlier this year, Forrester Research and Shop.org predicted Web sales of more than $172-billion, a 22% increase from last year. "Merchants are finding that they don't need extensive tech skills to be successful," according to Clarence Briggs, Chief Executive of AIT (http://www.ait.com), which provides web hosting and e-commerce business services to small businesses in wide array of industries:
-- Millions of dollars in suction cups sold each year by a New York company
-- Oysters fresh from the Chesapeake to your table in 24 hours
-- A West Coast software engineer who made 30K part-time selling caps
-- A Florida pest control firm with quarter-million dollar monthly sales
Niche businesses are especially well-suited to electronic sales. "Even people who don't buy online use the Internet for research purposes, comparing vendors and prices in searching for the best deal," said Sean McCoy, AIT's CMO. "And in communities where certain specialty shops may not exist, the web is the only way to find them."
The National Retail Foundation tends to be conservative in its predictions, meaning sales figures will likely be higher than expected. That bodes well for a wide range of businesses as they gear up for their peak sales season. "Going online is absolutely no risk; orders are processed and paid for before they shipped," says Richard Cantwell, the Virginia oysterman. Even though Cantwell also sells offline, "I believe the real growth lies with the Internet component."
SOURCE: AIT
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