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    THE ANTIQUES SOS
    e-JOURNAL

January 2000 Vol 1 Issue #11

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This publication is intended to provide you, the owner or
manager of an antique mall, craft mall or design center
with timely, usable information. We sincerely hope that it
serves this purpose well. Please let us know what articles or
columns would be of interest to you. We welcome qualified
subscribers and will be pleased to provide The Antiques SOS
(tm) e-Journal to them at no charge. Because the cost of
printing and mailing a publication are so great, regular delivery
of the Antiques SOS(tm) e-Journal will be by email only.
Please share this copy with a friend. Both they and we will thank
you for your consideration.

(C) Software Gallery, LLC    January 31, 2000

David P. Cunningham, Editor
email: editor@antiques-sos.com
http://www.antiques-sos.com
subscribe by sending an email to:
subscribe_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

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We value every subscriber and respect your privacy. If you
received this publication in error or wish to receive no further
issues, email remove_ASOS@antiques-sos.com. You will be
promptly removed from the list. NOTE: Our subscriber list is
strictly private and is not made available to others for any reason.

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IN THIS ISSUE.....

1. Building a Web Presence Part 1of 4
2. Marketing Tip -- Direct Mail Marketing -- An Essential Part of
Your Marketing Mix
3. Sales Tip -- Selling on the Internet
4. Mall Operations Tip -- Mall Cost Control
5. Dave's Soapbox -- The Worlds a Changin' and You've Got to
Change with It
6. Internet Neighborhood
7. Nerd's Corner -- Scanners Part 2 of 2
8. A Little Light on Windows -- Windows 2000

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TOPIC OF THE MONTH

Building a Web Presence

So you're tired of losing dealers because you aren't internet
"with it" and they can't brag about their stuff appearing upon the
"net". I'm going to do it, you say ! I'm going to have an internet
web presence for my antique or craft mall ! All set ? Ready !
Fire ! Aim ! Is there something wrong with this sequence ?

Not so fast ! The web is a big complicated place. Creating a
good -- not really a great mind you, a good web presence requires
planning, commitment, skill, financial resources, a comprehensive
understanding of the uniqueness of the internet media and no
small measure of serendipity.

A good web presence doesn't just happen. It is very carefully
built, piece by piece, and tested every step of the way. And, it
lies upon a rigorously planned and well executed foundation.
The internet is a wonderful media but it isn't magic -- far from it.
Success upon the internet is based upon well known, long
established, fundamental principals and its unique characteristics.

A successful internet presence which may or may not involve your
own unique web site must be carefully planned. At the very least,
the planning for your internet presence must be in concert with
your business plan (You do have one don't you ? And, it is
current ?) . And your internet presence must also work in concert
with your marketing plan, which is integrated with your business
plan, as well. Otherwise you can easily end up working at cross
purposes.

Business and Personal Assessment

Lets start at the beginning. First, lets be very clear about one thing.
If you aren't doing very well with your antique or craft mall you have
fundamental problems that developing a web presence probably
won't solve. In fact, a web presence may make matters worse.
Technology will not, in and of itself, save you. Only when applied
to business problems in the context of fundamentally sound
business frameworks will technology help you.

That said, the first question to answer is "What do you really like
to do in the antiques or collectibles world ?" Do you like to buy
and sell a particular class of merchandise such as toys or glass ?
Are you REALLY good at it and already have something of a
reputation (good of course)? Can you partner with your dealers
and associates who handle desirable merchandise at saleable
prices to offer what people want ? What kind of desirable
merchandise can you look forward to expanding into from your
competency base or that of your dealers and associates. Who do
you have in your mall who can help you ? Who can you recruit to
provide the kind of merchandise you want to promote ?

What are your business strengths and how can your dealers,
associates and recruits help you add to them ? Do you have
access to high quality, fairly priced merchandise ? Or is there
locally available merchandise which could be desirable in other
regions you can reach through the internet ?

What are your competitive advantages ? Make a list of them and
consider how you can make them work for you. How can you
build upon your competitive advantages ? They are usually short
lived in today's business climate and require constant rejuvenation.

The world of internet business is very densely populated. For you
to succeed, you have to plan very carefully, know exactly what you
are about and how to differentiate your business from all of the
other businesses competing for attention in the internet marketplace.

Who is the competition ? And, what are their business strengths,
especially from a customer point of view ? What are their
competitive advantages ? Where and how do they sell their
goods ? How can you co opt some or all of their business ?
Please understand that you always have competition for the
customer's dollars. It is foolish and naive to think otherwise.
Some competition is direct and some is indirect and competition
comes in many forms.

Even if your business model consists of selling one class of
merchandise on the internet, planning, as simplified as it may be,
is still essential.

Never try to be all things to all people ! You most likely have
limited resources so you must focus ! Even if you have unlimited
resources, don't waste them by failing to focus. Where is the gap
in merchandise or services you can fill ? What opportunities have
your competitors left for you to exploit ? And, what will it take for
you to take advantage of them ?

What is your differentiated selling proposition ? That is, what will
make your business unique in the marketplace and provide
contrast with respect to your competitors ? You should be able to
very clearly state your differentiated selling proposition in one
sentence, or two at the most, in terms any sixth grader can easily
comprehend. Do the same for your major competitors. Analyze
the resulting information and then reexamine your original
differentiated selling proposition.

Part 2 continues in the next issue

by
David P. Cunningham, P.E.

Copyright Notice: Copyright 2000 David P. Cunningham, P.E.
This article is available upon request by from our web site
http://www.antiques-sos.com by downloading a copy. Or,
we'll email a copy to you upon request.

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MARKETING TIP
(A brief tip for marketing your mall)

Direct Mail Marketing -- An Essential Part of Your Marketing Mix

Direct marketing is that ever-present industry which seems to
account for an increasingly large percentage of the mail which
arrives daily in your mailbox. Direct marketing companies ' sales
skills are legendary. Their catalogs, coupons, offers and incredibly
well crafted sales letters are ubiquitous. And, even more important,
they sell huge volumes of merchandise to very large numbers of
people.

So, what does that have to do with my antique mall you ask ?
Isn't direct marketing passe ? The respective answers to these
questions are: a great deal and absolutely not. Properly carried
out, direct marketing can make a significant positive addition to
your efforts to market your antique or craft mall and increase
traffic. Direct marketing's continued growth as a marketing
method is due to its consistent cost effective success and you
can benefit from it.

With the mailing list you have so carefully compiled and maintained
from your customer file, you are in an excellent position to conduct
a direct marketing campaign. The variations you can employ are
virtually limitless. You can promote special events, open houses,
mall wide sales, new services, seminars, or the arrival of special
merchandise. Avoid the breathless high pressure hype and your
customers will welcome the information.

Is the effort worth it ? It certainly is. You can reach large numbers
of customers and potential customers which are generally
unavailable to other mall owners or dealers. And, they will
respond if you really have something to offer them.

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SALES TIP
(A brief tip on selling more to customers --local
and remote and increasing revenue)

Selling on the Internet

Many antique malls have added selling on the internet to their
bag of selling tricks. Selling on the internet can be financially
rewarding and help to move locally stagnant merchandise. Just
because merchandise is locally stagnant doesn't mean it's
undesirable or that there is anything wrong with it. It's just that
the right buyer hasn't been exposed to it.

Selling on the internet can take many forms. Selling can be
through web site stores such as those found on TIAS, Collector
on Line or Amazon Z-shops. Auctions such as eBay, Amazon or
Yahoo are very active players or you can have your own unique
web site. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

There is also a remarkable level of work involved. You either have
to do the work yourself or designate or hire someone to do it for
you. In any case, the daily chores involved must be carried out
quickly, efficiently and accurately if the venture is going to work.

You or your designee must determine what merchandise is to be
included, select it, adjust prices as necessary, photograph it,
generate descriptions, prepare the detailed listing information,
select the selling venue, monitor the selling venue, determine a
payment policy, determine a returns policy, pack and ship the
merchandise, process returns and especially, be alert for fraud.

Certainly, selling on the internet can be a positive addition to your
sales bag of tricks. You do, however, need to be very well
organized and methodical to make it worthwhile. We will talk more
about the details of selling on the net in future articles.

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MALL OPERATIONS TIP
(A brief tip about improving antique
mall operations)

Antique Mall Cost Control

Those never ending bills can be very discouraging, especially in
today's extremely competitive environment. Dealers have many
options as to how and where they can offer their merchandise for
sale. Therefore, it's really difficult to raise their rent or increase
their commission fees. But the bills keep coming.

It has, therefore, become increasingly critical to minimize costs.

Electricity Costs

Have you looked at your electric bill recently ? Quite a shock
isn't it ? Aside from air conditioning in antique malls, most
electricity is consumed as lighting. As we all know, lighting is
essential for displaying goods and for public safety. A light bulb
is a resistive load so a 100 watt light bulb generates light and
approximately 314 Btu/hour of heat. Count the light bulbs and
fluorescent fixtures in your antique mall and record their total
wattage. Multiply each watt by 3.14 Btu/hour to determine the
amount of heat they release.

The amount of heat they generate, and expensive heat it is,
can result in the need to use air conditioning in the cooler
seasons of the year and in the winter. In the summer, the air
conditioning load in your mall is substantially greater because
of the heat load added by lighting. You, as the mall owner,
are paying double. First, you pay for the electricity consumed
for lighting. Then you pay for the electricity to run the
air conditioning required to remove the heat you just paid for.
A single 100 watt light bulb, on for eight hours per day, five
days per week for 52 weeks per year at 8 cents per kilowatt
hour for electricity, results in a cost of $16.64 per year. If
there are five 100 watt light bulbs in one dealer's booth and
there are 100 booths in your mall, the annual cost is $8320 per
year, not including electricity costs. That isn't small change!

Sure, its tempting to turn off all the lights and work in the dark.
That's silly, of course, so what do we do to be practical about
saving money ?
• Where possible use lower wattage bulbs in
dealer displays. Such bulbs are frequently as, or even more,
effective than higher wattage bulbs.
• When you relamp your fluorescent fixtures use lower wattage,
high efficiency lamps.
• Where possible switch from incandescent bulbs to compact,
high efficiency fluorescent bulbs. They are more expensive
initially but offer great energy savings and last far longer than
incandescent bulbs.

Some power companies will help with relamping costs because it
stretches their generating capacity. There may also be tax
incentives available for relamping.

Reevaluate your lighting needs. There may be areas in which
you have too much light for the tasks being illuminated. Use
as much natural lighting as possible. It's free and in the winter
it can help heat your building. Yes, its true that in the winter
lighting can help to heat your building. However, compared to gas or
oil, however, it is very expensive heat. And, in the summer all that
additional heat from lighting loads gets really expensive.

Systematically reducing lighting electrical loads makes terrific
sense. Its great for you financially and its great for the
environment. So go to it !!

Air Conditioning Costs

• We talked about the effect that electrical loads have upon air
conditioning. There are numerous other low cost things that you
can do to reduce your air conditioning costs and yet maintain a
comfortable sales environment.
• Follow the operating instructions and guidelines provided by the
installer, manufacturer or power company.
• Have the air conditioning unit professionally maintained according
to the manufacturer's instructions. It will pay big dividends
in operating costs and reliability.
• Check the air filters regularly and replace them according to
schedule. Filters are cheap when compared to the expense
incurred when they are dirty.
• Make sure that the areas around the condenser units are kept
clear so there's no interference with cooling air flows.
• Buy a really good (talk to your air conditioning contractor)
programmable controller(s) for your system and learn to use it
effectively including night time setbacks and early morning
startup.
• Set the controller(s) for maximum efficiency and put a lockable
cover on it to keep prying fingers away. Demand charges cost
really big money and are very easy to incur.
• Keep all heat sources away from the controller so it senses
true room air temperature and not an artificial load brought
about by a nearby electric light bulb.
• Limit the wattage dealers may use in lamps and other fixtures
in their booths. It not only saves the energy required to light the
bulbs but also the air conditioning energy required to remove the
energy you just paid for in the first place. This is also a significant
fire safety issue associated with higher wattage bulbs.
• Be aware of power consuming appliances such as coffee
makers. They not only consume large amounts of expensive
electricity but also add substantially to the heat and water vapor
load within the air conditioned space.
• Use weather stripping and air locks to reduce the infiltration
of hot, moisture laden air into the conditioned space.
• Install insulation to minimize heat transfer from outside. It quickly
pays for itself.
• Observe where sunlight enters the conditioned space through
unprotected windows during the cooling season. The amount
of heat added by solar gain is considerable; heat which has to be
extracted by the air conditioning system.

Part 2 continues next issue

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DAVE'S SOAPBOX
by David P. Cunningham

The Worlds a Changin' and You've got to Change With It

"There is no constant but change" I have no idea where this
phrase came from, it's not original to me, but it is accurate. We
have no real choice but to accept the occurrence of change. It
will happen come what may and nothing, absolutely nothing, will
stop it. Our choice comes concerning how we will deal with
change. We can assume a passive position and accept what
change deals to us. That is we can allow change to simply
happen and accept the consequences whatever they may be.

Or, we take an active position. We can anticipate and observe
the changes taking place around us, plan for their occurrence and
guide and control it to the maximum extent possible -- to our benefit.

Which would you rather do ? Get blindsided by inevitable change
or prepare for it and make it work to your advantage ? Let there
be no doubt ! I am dedicated to preparing for change and using it
to my advantage.

In the antique mall business big changes have occurred and more
are coming. One thing is readily apparent. Change will occur
faster than ever and be significantly more disruptive than in the
past -- especially if you aren't prepared.

The answer ? Prepare for change, guide your business future
and take advantage of the situation. We'll do our best to detect the
coming changes, interpret their effects and help you prepare to
take advantage of them.

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THE STUFF THAT PAYS THE RENT

Antiques SOS (tm), Antiques SOS Lite (tm) and Antiques SOS
Basic (tm) are Software Galley, LLC software products which
serve the Antique Mall trade. Our products are installed in 250
antique malls in 39 states and Canada. Antiques SOS (tm) was
first installed in 1987 and Antiques SOS Lite (tm) was introduced
in 1998 to satisfy a need for computer software for smaller malls.
Antiques SOS Basic (tm) was introduced in 1999 and has been
very well received. All products are fully Year 2000/Y2K
compliant. Please refer to complete information which has been
posted on our Antiques SOS (tm) web site
-- http://www.antiques-sos.com

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INTERNET NEIGHBORHOOD

Cool web sites

http://www.ipocentral.com

Looking for the latest internet initial public offerings ? Need to
know about the initial public offerings which have taken place
since 1996 and how they have fared ? This site also covers those
issues which have filed to go public and not yet begun trading,

http://www.google.com

One of the fastest growing and effective search engines on the
net, Google.com is surprisingly easy to use and produces
excellent results. Google's web site analysis tools and
sophisticated text matching technology make this the search
engine to beat. Highly recommended.

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NERD'S CORNER
(A light approach for non-techies
concerning need to know issues)

Scanners - Part 2 of 2

Interface to your computer

The scanner connects to the computer via a cable which is
specific to the interface which is being employed. There are
three primary interfaces employed to transfer information from the
scanner to the computer. They are SCSI, USB and parallel.

For a number of reasons, including speed and ZIP drive
compatibility, the SCSI and USB interfaces are preferred to a
parallel interface. The SCSI interface works well, is fast and is
reliable. However, an appropriate SCSI interface card must be
installed in your computer to use a scanner with a SCSI interface.
Further, scanners with a SCSI interface are frequently somewhat
more expensive than those with USB or parallel interfaces.

USB interface connections are found on more recent computers.
The quality of the USB implementations are a bit spotty and
sometimes do not work as well as they should. Obviously, some
USB installations will require experienced specialized help to get
them working. When they work properly, USB scanners are very
easy to set up and configure and represent true "plug and play"
implementation.

Resolution

Our discussion centers strictly upon optical resolution rather than
software interpolated resolution. Optical resolutions are definitive.
Interpolated resolutions are software dependent and can be
manipulated by the manufacturer.

We recommend that you purchase a scanner with a minimum
optical resolution of 600 dpi. Can you do with less ? Sure, you
can acceptably scan photographs at 300 dpi. But, with 600 dpi
scanners costing minimally more than 300 dpi scanners, its
foolish not to go for the better resolution that most midlevel
scanners offer.

Color

Color bit rates in today's scanners range from 24 bits to 36 bits.
The color bit rate is one factor in determining the dynamic color
range your scanner will produce. 24 color bits is the absolute
minimum and can suffer from considerable electronic "noise". We
recommend that you select a 30 color bit scanner which will give
you excellent dynamic range for almost any image you wish to scan.

Unless you are a professional graphics designer with intensive
graphics needs, 36 color bits is overkill. The great likelihood is
that your eyes cannot tell the difference between 30 bit color and
36 bit color images. As with many types of equipment, it is
essential that the color bit rate be considered in context with the
overall quality of the scanner and not just by itself. Some lesser
known manufacturers play games with specifications - games
which benefit them and not you.

Speed

The speed of any given scanner, and its comparison to other
scanners, can be determined only by referring to test reports
produced by a reliable testing organization. Speed is determined
by many factors, including the selected interface, the mechanical
precision and the electronic properties of a particular scanner. As
with color bits, lesser known manufacturers do play games with
speed information.

Software

To use the information generated by a scanner, software must be
installed in your computer. Optical character recognition software
is needed to manipulate information scanned from printed text
pages. Additionally, a good image editor is required to work with
photographs and other images. High end software, suitable for
graphics professionals and appropriate for use with high end
professional scanners is expensive. However, software
appropriate to a midlevel scanner frequently comes with it.
Although it is usually a limited edition of a commercial software
package, the software provided usually will be sufficient for your
purposes. If your needs are greater than those provided for by
the software bundled with the scanner you purchase, you will
have to purchase appropriate software.

Hardware

If you are regularly working with scanned images, you are going
to require significantly increased hardware capabilities. To store,
deftly manipulate and process the images you create with your
scanner and digital camera you will need increased memory and
hard drive speed and capacity. To provide for backup capacity
and physical delivery of digital images a high capacity removable
drive, such as a ZIP drive, will be required.

You will require a minimum of 64 MB of high speed memory with
128 MB of memory representing a significantly better choice.
Because you will be creating large image files, you will require a
very large capacity, high access speed, hard drive. Coupled with
the need for housing large operating systems, increasingly large
application software programs and other software needs, plan
upon buying at least a 10 GB hard drive. For the minimal extra
cost, a 20 GB capacity or greater hard drive is even better.

To provide for speedy manipulation of the images you create you
will also require a fast, high end central processor. Plan on
purchasing at least a 600 MHz Intel Pentium III or its AMD
equivalent for your computer. Either that or plan upon spending
plenty of time working with your images.

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A LITTLE LIGHT ON WINDOWS

Firewalls and Intrusion Detection

Firewall and intrusion detection software is an absolute must for
"always on" high speed connections to the internet such as cable
modems and digital subscriber lines (DSL). Such connections, in
combination with Windows® enabled print and file sharing are like
hosting an open house on your computer system. The purpose of
firewall software is to isolate your computer system from external
threats. Intrusion detection software is designed to warn you of
attempted intrusions into your computer system and to identify the
source of the attempted intrusions.

If you have a small office or home computer network and combine
it with a cable modem or DSL connection, you have a prescription
for disaster. In effect you have invited outsiders to snoop into your
files and potentially damage your computer as well as others on
the network.

Think it can't happen to you ? Wrong ! Think again ! Hackers
from all over the world are constantly probing connected computer
systems for weaknesses. You say your systems are password
protected ? Please ! There are literally dozens of password
cracking software packages available on the internet. Some of
them are quite good. Once the hacker is into your computer
system, everything is an open book.

Do people actually download and use password cracking
packages ? You can answer this for yourself if you know that
one major password cracker package has been downloaded in
excess of 500,000 times.

You also need to be concerned about snooping on a local basis.
A very clever individual can, through manipulation, read all
network traffic and enter unauthorized areas of your computer
system. Is there an answer to the treat ? Fortunately, the answer
is yes. There are software packages available to monitor and
report all activity which passes or attempts to pass through your
network or internet connection port of your computer.

Black ICE Defender (www.networkice.com) ($39.95 direct) will
provide intrusion detection, identification and protection and do
so very effectively. Once installed, Black ICE watches all internet
protocol traffic to and from your computer and can intervene to
block intrusions. Further, it creates informative reports about
attempted intrusions. The reports can be used by internet
security departments and legal authorities to locate the source of
the intrusions.

At the very modest cost for Black ICE you simply cannot afford not
to have the excellent protection it affords, especially if you are
connected to the internet through a cable modem or DSL connection.

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Dave Cunningham is one of the principals of Software Gallery,
LLC the developer and owner of Antiques SOS (tm) and
Antiques SOS Lite (tm). He specializes in technical issues
which affect the Software Gallery client base. Dave's special
interests are: e-commerce and its appropriate use; privacy issues;
and time saving aspects of technology. He has accumulated an
assortment of wallpaper from a number of fineinstitutions of higher
learning as well as The University of Life. The foregoing qualifies
him to issue profound mutterings, occasionally stumble into
solutions to user problems and, when necessary, cook dinner.

Sue Cunningham is also one of the principals of Software
Gallery, LLC. She's been writing computer software
professionally since 1964 and has been an antiques dealer since
1967. She's a self proclaimed "nerd" who even had "FOXPRO"
on her Pennsylvania license plate.

Software Gallery, LLC is a business venture of The
Cunninghams. Long active in the antiques world as dealers and
in software development, Sue and Dave Cunningham live and
work in Laramie, Wyoming after having been located in
Denver, Pennsylvania for many years.

The Antiques SOS (tm) product line has its own web site at
http://www.antiques-sos.com. More information about
Software Gallery, LLC and its products can be found at
http://www.softwaregallery.com.

To subscribe to The Antiques SOS eJournal email to:
subscribe_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

To unsubscribe email to: remove_ASOS@antiques-sos.com

_________________________________________

(C) 2000 Software Gallery, LLC

We encourage you to forward a copy of this issue (w/ all
copyright notices intact) to as many antique, craft or design
mall owners or managers as you wish. This information may
not be altered, transmitted or transferred; electronically or
otherwise for any other purpose without written permission
from Software Gallery, LLC. All rights reserved.

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