By Paul Lang, Editor, Sell It!
June 13th, 1998

See Also   Terrence Sherry and 1 World Sarongs   Andrew Bridgeman and eART-originals   Mark Annett and Scruplestore.com   David Sabot and Cheaphumidors.com   William Waite and Nemmelgeb Murr   Mary Lu Wason and LampLink   Michael Campbell and Cellwest   Bob Rankin and Flowers Fast   Louis Jay and Health4Her.com   Jeff Swearingen and TheGift.com   Bill Broadbent the T-Shirt King   Jim Goodbody and PlanetLearn   Todd Mogren and coastaltool.com   John D. Einhorn and CapShack.com   Beverley Wood and the Gift Ship   Sgt. David Hack and US Wings   Brenda Do and MindFood Media.com   Rory O'Connor and Shopirish.com

SHOPIRISH.com first opened its doors in October 1997 as an extension to the successful Creative Irish Gifts catalogue. Although total construction, running and maintenance costs for its first year will be less than $8000, SHOPIRISH.com is already delivering annualised revenues of $200,000, and is growing rapidly.

The store was put together by Rory O'Connor, who has no previous Web commerce experience. In this interview, Rory shares with us some of the challenges he faced and the valuable lessons he has learnt.

What is the business model behind Creative Irish Gifts?

Creative Irish Gifts is essentially non-profit, meaning we do not take any profits from the business other than what is necessary to grow. The business is owned by (and proceeds go to benefit) two non-profit businesses -- The Irish Children's Fund and The Northern Ireland Children's Project. For years the organisations have been fostering peace and unity among the youth of Northern Ireland in hopes of a brighter, more peaceful future. It's actually a breakthrough business model -- leveraging a commercial business (capitalism) into non-profit interests. I believe the new term is "social entrepreneurship" or "social marketing," but we've been doing it for years.

My parents not only started The Irish Children's Fund (back in 1981), but also a few years later Creative Irish Gifts to financially underpin it. Both were started in our home and have been a huge part of our lives. Our vision is for peace in Northern Ireland, not to get rich.

Why did you decide to open a Web store?

I've been tinkering with the Web since it's true introduction in 1994, when I was in college. My parents had been running Creative Irish Gifts for about ten years, and it was they who really pushed me to put the Web store together. I began to put SHOPIRISH.com together in the middle of last year, learning as I went. Because I had no experience with online e-tailing and the funds were somewhat limited (we're a relatively small business), I took a very "guerrilla" approach to the site -- learning what might otherwise be paid for, constantly scanning for ideas, pinching pennies, etc.

We were quite tentative about the viability of the Web as a true retail channel, so SHOPIRISH.com really began as an experiment. But as time rolled on, and especially when Christmas season hit, we realised the potential of what the Web could do for our business. The reach was incredible and the cost savings of web vs. telephone ordering began to look very promising.

What ISP and shopping cart software did you choose, and why?

We are using MindSpring as our hosting provider. While they were not the most affordable provider out there at the time we were looking, I felt they would provide top-notch service -- and they do. Their servers are very fast and their hosting support has been fabulous.

I chose the HAZEL Internet Merchandising System to run the back-end of the site because at the time they had a relationship with MindSpring. Choosing HAZEL was the best decision I could have made. The cost is incredibly low for such robust software, and their user support is unparalleled.

What problems did you encounter?

Firstly, browsing a catalogue on the Internet is simply not as rich of an experience as browsing a print catalogue. What we do to counter the problem is to encourage shopping via both mediums -- Web users are encouraged to request a catalogue to experience the richness print can offer, and print catalogue viewers are encouraged to visit the site where they can shop and/or take advantage of some of our value-added functions like the Photo Gallery or Web Postcards. The two mediums compliment each other very well.

I'd also say the Internet literacy was an obstacle. While I was cruising "full-steam ahead" with the site I was regularly surprised to find the people in our organisation were not familiar with the Internet at all. The lesson is that it not only takes time to teach others how to use the Internet, but also for people to develop necessary "etiquette" -- which is especially important for customer service functions. A full understanding of the Internet by all players in the organisation is key.

One major problem we are still enduring is the "scam scare" that all Web retailers have to deal with. It's difficult to estimate just how much more sales we would be doing if visitors were comfortable with on-line transactions. We've tried to quell some fears by offering alternative payment methods like "Call for credit card information" in which we contact the customer and collect their card number.

What aspects of your store are you especially pleased with? What could have been done better?

I am especially pleased with the look and design of the site. It's got a classy "Irish" feel to it while still maintaining a respectably quick download time. That's quite a trick, and definitely a necessary skill. While I am not a designer by nature, I generally know what looks good. I find it very encouraging when people drop me e-mails telling me that they like the design, and it happens fairly often.

I think the site could have been organised better. In the print catalogue, the items are only very loosely organised into groups so that the browsing flow will be varied. That cannot be as easily replicated on the Web, lest the site become a morass of unrelated products. So, I kind of had to "wing" the creation of the categories. When we update next, we are going to use some information we have on what pages people were trafficking the most and try to make fact-based judgements about how the site should be organised.

I definitely could have done better with my HTML coding. It has worked fine, but some hasty coding in the beginning has cost me some time in re-work and has probably made some bad impressions on customers. It's important to pay careful attention when HTML coding, and to test on different browsers.

And I wish I hadn't used frames. From a design perspective, frames are fabulous. But to my surprise, many people still don't use frame-enabled browsers. Also, most search engines still struggle with the indexing of framed sites.

What are your plans to develop the store?

We've got great plans! We can always count on customers to give great, candid feedback on what they like, what they would like to see, and (*ouch*) what doesn't work! I've been compiling these comments and have learned a great deal from my own experience, and I'll be completely re-inventing the site over the summer based on this information. Also, great updates to our merchandising system are allowing for more cross-selling opportunities and dynamically generated product pages.

But perhaps the most exciting addition will be our introduction of "The Irish Crossroads" -- a virtual meeting ground online for Irish and those interested in Ireland/Irish culture. The site will include discussion forums, chat, more Irish resources on the Web, Irish photography and many more of our ever-popular Irish Web Postcards. I'm really excited about The Irish Crossroads because it not only will serve to enhance our business, but it will serve to enhance people's lives by providing for real, valuable interaction.

What tips would you give to someone considering opening their own Web store?

• Have a passion for Web marketing. This is critically important. I love what I do for Creative Irish Gifts -- everything from programming to design to interacting with customers. Without passion, the site would have flopped.

• If you don't know something, learn it. It beats paying for it.

• Have (or acquire) both technical skills and web marketing expertise. Cross-functionality of discipline is the way of the future for the cyber-savvy marketer.

• Make sure your site looks good. Visitors won't stick around, much less buy from, a site that looks shoddy or amateur.

• Study logfiles. The data is there for fact-based decision making. Use it.

• Offer value and incentives. Offer something good and customers will buy it. Offer incentives to purchase and customers will buy more of it.

• Communicate. Keep an opt-in e-mailing list and use it to communicate with customers about new developments on a regular basis. The cost is minimal and it's a sure-fire way to drive business.

• Offer feature-based content. Make the site more interesting than just products (although they should be interesting too).

• Allow customers to request a catalogue or printed information from the site. It allows for a richer shopping experience and validates the legitimacy of your business and Web site.

• Serve customers quickly and effectively. Use the 24-hour rule - people expect it.

• Offer alternative payment options. People are leary of giving credit card info. over the Web, and will be for a while.