By JOEL HAIST
The State News
Online shopping continues to grow at a steady pace and Internet services and local businesses are increasingly taking their services to the World Wide Web.
Camron Gnass, owner of Vision Creative, 619 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing, is in his sixth year of setting up and maintaining business online. He has created almost a dozen local Web sites, many started this year. Gnass said he has doubled his business every year since Vision Creative opened and attributes much of his success to his online ventures.
“There is really nothing the Web can’t do besides shake your hand,” he said. “Online businesses are more efficient, being accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and costs are saved on rent for a storefront, employee wages and travel time.”
Gnass said a business can increase customer support, efficiency and create no-pressure buying situations where clientele can shop in their pajamas if they want. Businesses can get a huge return on their initial investment of setting up a Web site, he said.
Forrester Research, specialists in the impact of the Internet on the marketplace, predict online spending to reach $38 billion this year, $64.2 billion in 2001 and more than $100 billion in 2002.
Christopher Kelly, an analyst for Forrester, said more than 11 million households have shopped online for the first time this year.
Bill Druliner said he thinks many businesses are starting to realize the type of tool the Internet can be for a company of any size.
Druliner is the small business program director for Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce. He recently compiled results of a 90-person survey of local business owners.
“We found 89 percent of people thought the Internet will play a significant role in their future,” he said. “I think that with the consumer being better educated because of increased availability of information, this new economy of online businesses is going to thrive if businesses are prepared to deliver what customers require.”
Roy Saper, owner of Saper Galleries, 433 Albert Ave., said he has also enjoyed the opportunities Internet business has brought his establishment. Saper graduated from MSU in 1973 with a degree in computer science and successfully brought sapergalleries.com online six months ago.
“Nothing has opened up our business like the Web site,” he said. “It is a free way of promoting yourself that hits every country in the world and costs me nothing.”
Saper built the Web site from scratch with his 9-year-old son and a $300 digital camera.
“If you don’t have a Web site you are living in the dark ages,” Saper said. “There isn’t a business that can’t benefit from the Internet.”
But the benefits don’t stop at buying books, clothing or music online. The MSU Federal Credit Union, which has several branches in the area, launched an Internet-accessible account program two months ago.
Joyce Banish, vice president of marketing for the credit union, said the bank’s new venture is very popular.
“We are issuing 50 passwords a day to our members and have had nearly 61,000 hits to our home page,” she said. “Our service allows the customer to make their own transactions, rebalance accounts and pay bills without having to visit the bank.
“This allows us to take more time with member services and concentrate on things that can’t be handled online.”
