Jul 9, 2009

Lessons Learned: Keepsakes Etc Owner Bob ShirillaBy Kate MonteithPracticalEcommerce.com

Bob Shirilla and his wife JoAnn own and operate the online gift store Keepsakes Etc and the tote bag store Simply Bags. Keepsakes Etc was originally established in 1982 as a traditional brick-and-mortar gift store in Canfield, Ohio. The Shirillas created the ecommerce component in 2000 and then closed their two mall locations due to “17 years of constantly increasing rent and chain store competition.” They launched Simply Bags in January 2008. The two online stores offer more than 2,000 products for sale between them.

Bob Shirilla offers his thoughts on their ecommerce successes and mistakes, below.

“We use the Yahoo! store platform and have been very satisfied. The hosted solution has eliminated the need for us to have a technical staff and allowed us to focus on retailing. The uptime is close to 100 percent and their support staff is second to none.

“Yahoo!’s Store Manager is user-friendly and very configurable. We personalize most of our products, and it provides flexible pricing options and color selections.

“Over the years, Yahoo! has constantly added functionality and upgraded its solutions to keep pace with ecommerce. I highly recommend Yahoo! Merchant Solutions.”

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