• NY Times, Wednesday, November 16, 2005 10:45 AM

Aside from generating huge sales for big online retailers like Amazon and auctioneers like eBay, the Web is also helping smaller retailers sell their niche products. The New York Times profiles a small-town retailer whose Web site enables it to move inventory much more quickly. This fosters innovation in product development and diversification among sales floor offerings, but it also--crucially--lets customers know that they should come back often, as new inventory is constantly being brought in. The store profiled in the article is precisely the kind of small-town retailer local search providers want to lure online. Most of the marketing dollars spent on local search are coming from big retail chains, but the pulse of local search will--ideally, one day--be retailers like these. The onus is on interactive yellow pages and other search providers to reach out to local store owners who can inevitably move more products with a greater Web presence.

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