Hey all:
One of our clients was mentioned on the Senate floor last week
in the hearings on the Internet Tax Bill. Coastal Tool & Supply
is also one of the 23 companies mentioned in the book "StrikingItRich.com."
They were mentioned in the Senate as an example of how small
brick and mortar businesses can successfully compete in a global
economy. Here is an edited version of the unofficial
transcript. Final official transcript is entered in the
Congressional Record at a later date. http://www.coastaltool.com/ind.htm
George
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Sen. Lieberman (CT)
Here is a startling story. Coastal Tool - I've been there.
(Sen. Lieberman held a TV press conference in front of my desk
concerning this legislation) It's a small family-run hardware
store in Hartford CT was threatened, interestingly, by a
location nearby of one of the large chain hardware stores and it
was having a hard time. Decided to go on the Internet, in a
sense to leap over the big competitor down the street. I think
it was Home Depot, but it doesn't matter, and in a sense enter
the global main street and hired a very able young man, skilled
in computer matters ":)" , put their catalog essentially on the
Internet. Sales have grown almost 500 % <comment>The 500
percent number refers to Internet sales and not overall company
wide sales </comment>. This is what the future holds and it is
a situation if we do it right, where not only the big companies
but a lot of mom and pop stores and businesses are going to be
able to benefit from Internet sales.
Sen Wyden (Oregon)
I want to say that I think the Senator has made an especially
effective approach and tell him that hardware store
account that you gave is essentially what this legislation is
all about. Now there's been discussion about you know, who
benefits here and huge corporations and the like. The people
who benefit here are the 100,000 home based businesses in my
state. The hardware store that the Senator from CT is talking
about and the reason why that's the case is that the Internet is
a great equalizer for those small businesses. What the
gentleman was talking about with respect to that hardware store
account was why I introduced this legislation in early 1997.
That was the very kind of operation that I think we ought to be
looking to grow in the 21st century and I thank the gentleman
for yielding me this time. I heard his account of that hardware
store in the cloakroom and I think some have said- In fact, I
heard again today that this was about amazon.com or someone like
that.
Sen Lieberman (CT)
I want to end with one story that the Senator from Oregon has
stimulated in my memory that I heard when I visited that
hardware store. It shows you how you cannot only jump over the
big store down the block but into the global shopping mall. One
of their favorite stories and this is not a pure market example
because the particular customer I'm about to refer to is from a
Middle Eastern country, happened to work for his country's
national airlines so his trip here was paid for. He needed some
heavy tools went on the Internet, found his way to Coastal
Tool's web site, competitively priced, figured out what the
advantage was on the flight to New York. Got off the plane,
rented a truck, drove to Hartford bought the tools that he
needed, drove back, put them on the plane and went back to the
Middle East.
_______________________________________________________
George Matyjewicz, C.M.O. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Moderator of E-Tailer's Digest http://www.gapent.com/etailer/
Your Resource for Retail on the Net
Moderator E-Marketing Digest http://www.webbers.com/emark/
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
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