Even established companies take to the Internet

The death of in-store retail shopping has been greatly exaggerated. Area retailers are using the Internet and e-commerce to supplement their stores, not replace them.

``It doesn't have to be an either-or proposition,'' said Billie Scott, director of public relations for the Simon Property Group, which operates both SouthPark and NorthPark malls in the Quad-Cities.

Many retailers are using the Internet to augment their businesses. While Simon Property is using the Internet to promote its malls and their individual stores, a Quad City company is taking businesses like Isabel Bloom into cyberspace.

``We wanted to get on the web for a lot of reasons,'' said Jeff Gilfillan, one of Isabel Bloom's three owners. Isabel Bloom now has its own Web site linked to cobblestreet.com , the product of 4CS Solutions of East Moline.

Isabel Bloom's Web site went ``live'' in November, Mr. Gilfillan said. The company's intention was only to promote its product over the Internet, not conduct sales, he said. However, dealing with 4CS changed their minds, said Mr. Gilfillan.

CobbleStreet Merchant Solution is a service representing hometown USA, said Phil Cunningham, vice president of marketing for 4CS. Cobblestreet serves as a portal allowing anyone in the country to locate products and services from their own hometown, or anyone else's. It will go nationwide in the spring, he said.

Area businesses on CobbleStreet's Quad City Web site include Lagomarcino's, Boetje Food Inc., the Putnam Museum, Wallace Music and the Quad City Mallards in addition to Isabel Bloom.

Isabel Bloom's primary reason for going on the Web was to give its customers another medium to get in touch, Mr. Gilfillan said.

``It's a great way to communicate with customers,'' said Mr. Gilfillan.

Simon Property has actively been employing new ways to converge its mall retailing business with e-commerce, Ms. Scott said.

Simon already promotes most of the 190 malls it owns or operates on its Web site, Ms. Scott said. The company is also test marketing two ``digital commerce'' products.

FastFrog.com is aimed at young consumers and is being test marketed in Atlanta, Ms. Scott said. FastFrog allows teenagers to scan items at the mall using a hand-held ``Zap Stick.''

The scanned items can then be downloaded and placed on a Web page that can be e-mailed. The list of items can then be sent to friends or relatives when gifts are sought for special events like birthdays, holidays or graduation for example.

Another product, called YourSherpa.com allows busy consumers to merely scan the items they want to purchase and have someone else pickup the packages. The shopper can scan items at as many stores in the mall as they choose and pay at one time, Ms. Scott said.

``It's kind of fun, it's new and different,'' Mr. Gilfillan said of Isabel Bloom's venture onto the Internet. The company first had to develop trust in the system, they are now very comfortable doing business over the Internet, he said.

4CS has enlisted another Quad City company in its Internet business to handle the transaction portion of e-commerce. Nobel Electronic Transfer handles the credit card processing of purchases made over CobbleStreet Web sites, explained Mr. Cunningham. Novel offers Cobblestreet merchants a price advantage over other companies offering the service, he said.

One small problem Isabel Bloom has encountered is the expectations of Internet shoppers, Mr. Gilfillan said.

Amazon.com, for example, which sells books and other items on the Internet is known for delivering products within three to four days of an order, he said. Since Isabel Bloom must manufacture the items it sells, it will never be able to match that efficiency, Mr. Gilfillan said.

So far, Internet sales are a small part of their business, far below their store and catalog sales, Mr. Gilfillan said. Isabel Bloom went on the Internet sooner than it really needed to, he said.

``A part of it is just staying ahead of the curve as best as we can,'' Mr. Gilfillan said of his company's involvement with e-commerce. ``Like any prudent business, we want to be ready for any changes in customers' buying habits.''