Ancient healing arts meet cyberspace

They opened their San Francisco branch in 1982 in the heart of Chinatown, where they carry a comprehensive line of herbs and nutritional supplements including ginseng, tea, vitamins and herbal medicines treating a variety of conditions. In this interview, Mr. Andy Yen shares his experience as a successful online merchant.

Q. What first attracted you to the idea of selling your goods online?

A. We were looking for ways to expand our existing retail business. Because we already carried an inventory, we felt selling online would be a great way to increase our sales with minimal investment.
 

Q. What were your goals when you started out?

A. At first, we just wanted to pay for the website itself! But because Webcom is so inexpensive, we quickly met that goal. Then we wanted to expand our business to customers throughout the US and the world who would never see be able to visit our retail outlet.
 

Q. How easy was it to set up and integrate e-commerce into your existing website?

A. Very easy. We started with the basic webcommerce templates Webcom provides, but then, because we wanted the look to be more harmonious with the rest of the site, we modified the templates so that the store now looks just like the rest of the site. That was very important. We've some e-commerce sites that looked almost like afterthoughts, or looked completely different than the rest of the site. It was extremely important to us that we were able to give our customers an easy-to-use, unified, and flexible e-commerce solution. We would not have chosen Webcom unless we had complete control over the look and feel.

Q. How does selling online differ from selling in the 'real' world?

A. Because our business relies on educating and informing our customers, we've had to find ways to give them information online that we would just tell them in person if they were in our store. For example, we've concentrated on providing information on Chinese medicine and philosophy on our site because it's important that people understand the theory behind Chinese medicine if they are to get the full benefit of the herbal remedies we offer. We also spend a lot of time answering email from customers. And, of course, the best part is that we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
 

Q. What specific marketing efforts/techniques do you employ to increase your online sales?

A. We register with all the search engines and run monthly Web specials. We also make sure we have the lowest prices on the Web. In addition, we highlight the most popular items in our store and make sure that our Web address in on all our product literature.

Q. What effect does having the ability to shop via your website have on your walk-in customers?

A. It's been negligible. All the customers we get from the website are new customers, which is great! We also get some Web customers becoming walk in customers. Lots of people have visited the store because they heard about us on the Web, and they buy products or come in for a acupuncture treatment. It's very important to us that our customers understand that there are real people with lots of great experience behind the Web site, we're not just out to make a quick buck, but to serve their needs.

Q. What are some of the advantages to you, as a merchant, in making your goods available online? Any disadvantages or pitfalls?

A. There are so many benefits! We are always open and we are able to reach people who would never be able to visit our store. We've gotten orders from all over the world.--the Web has literally made us a global company. Also, the overhead on the Web site is a small fraction of the overhead on the retail store, which means our margins on Web sales are higher.

The biggest disadvantage is that we can't offer all our services, such as acupuncture treatments or one-on-one consultations over the Web. But we're working on it!
 

Q.. What, if anything, surprised you about selling online?

A. How easy it was to get started and the variety of people who pass through our virtual doors. We've had orders from all over the world

Q. How easily did Webcommerce fit in with your existing business practices?

A. It was an easy adjustment to make. We already had a mail order component built into our retail operation, so we were able to build on the existing infrastructure to support our e-commerce. WebCommerce has made keeping track of orders very easy and we like the fact that customers get an email verification of their orders-it's very professional and a feature of all the best e-commerce sites.

Q. What do you like best about WebCommerce?

A. It's very easy to set up and it's very flexible. You can basically decide how far you want to go with it. It supports the most basic set up as well as providing a migration path that allows your site to grow with your business.

Q. What advice would you offer to someone who wants to open a WebCommerce store?

A. Try it out! The "try before you buy" trial period is fantastic. It allowed us to get our feet wet and see if WebCommerce would fit our needs. It did!

Q. What marketing advice would you offer to a new web merchant?

A. Listen to your customers and scout out the competition. Perhaps the hardest part of doing business over the Web is developing a relationship of trust with your customers. We make sure that customers know we are there for them and we answer their questions even if they are not interested in buying a product. If people see you as reliable and caring, they'll remember, and they'll tell their friends and come back.
 

Andy, Dr. Lois Yen, OMD, and Susan Yen, MSTCM, L.Ac., are honored to have you visit DAAN online for all your Traditional Chinese Medicine needs.