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    THE ANTIQUE and CRAFT MALL
    BUSINESS e-JOURNAL

The Official e-Journal of Antiques SOS (tm) and Crafts SOS (tm)
Complete Mall Business Management Software

March 2000 Vol 2 Issue #1

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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)
Antique and Craft Mall Business 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) Business e-Journal will
be by email only. Please pass this issue on to a friend. Both they
and we will appreciate your consideration.

(C) Software Gallery, LLC    March 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 3 of 4
2. Marketing Tip -- Countering the Effect of Gasoline Costs
3. Sales Tip -- Online Auctions
4. Mall Operations Tip -- Making Your Mall Lawsuit Resistant --
    Part 1 of 2
5. Dave's Soapbox -- Internet Commerce Taxes
6. Internet Neighborhood
7. Nerd's Corner -- Graphics Images for the Web -- Part 1 of 2
8. A Little Light on Windows -- Fat Pipes

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TOPIC OF THE MONTH

Building a Web Presence - Part 3 of 4

The Market

Now that we've looked very carefully at your business and
personal assessment and learned something about the internet,
we're ready to examine your marketing needs. You've decided, at
least preliminarily, what you want to do. Whether its driving traffic
to your bricks and mortar mall or selling specific merchandise on
the web, you have to plan and implement your marketing program.

Identify your potential target markets, keeping in mind that the
internet substantially expands your reach. Make sure that you
take into account the particular strengths of the internet in your
planning. Carefully considering your own unique strengths,
capabilities and likes and dislikes sort through your potential
target markets. Pick one to address first. Under no circumstances
should you attempt to address more than one market simultaneously.
Doing so will not work and is a blueprint for failure because
managing a successful project requires intense focus.

As a part of the process of selecting the market you want to
address consideration should be given to the following:
• Competition in the market
• The size and demographics of the market
• The ease (or difficulty) with which the market can be reached
using the internet
• How to identify and reach the individuals who make up the market
• The degree to which the market is regulated and by whom
• The cost and time involved in reaching the market
• The amount of ongoing help you will need and where you will
obtain it
• Realization that if the web based market hasn't a clue that you
exist, you don't
• What strategy you are going to employ
• How you are going to measure performance
• How you will assure that you have an adequate supply of
merchandise available to you
• How you are going to acquire customers
• How you are going to differentiate customers
• How your are going to retain customers
• How you are going to analyze the long term value of your
customers and decide how you can add value to them

The Web Based Business Plan

Now that we have completed our business and personal
assessment and worked our way through the basics of the market
planning process, its time to address the business issues which
inevitably confront us. It is important to address these issues and
come to satisfactory conclusions about them because your web
based business plan should complement and never be in conflict
with the business plan you have developed for your base business.
What you need to do is develop both a short and long term plan
which adequately reflects your interests and needs.
Some of those important business issues are:
• Always state your goals and the following issues in non financial
and financial terms where applicable and be specific
• The current status of your business
• What you want the status to be, short and long term
• How you are going to get there
• What you want to accomplish, short and long term
• What your time line is
• The resources, both business and personal, you can employ
• The resources, both internal and external, you have available
• The resources must you acquire
• The alliances can you form. The web is a uniquely viable place
for them and they will be enormously beneficial.
• Not to violate fundamental business principles
• If you have poor business skills the internet isn't going to help.
The web magnifies both the plusses and minuses

Part 4 continues 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)

How to Beat the Effects of the Cost of Fuel

Now, more than ever, especially in the face of gasoline sticker
shock, you'll need to bring to bear all the marketing skills you can
muster to drive traffic to your antique or craft mall.

Are your customers likely to abandon their antiques hunting and
buying habits ? It's really not very likely that they will. Rather,
what they will do is to modify their behavior. You will have to
give your customers one or more reasons why they should come
to your antique or craft mall as opposed to going to the many
other options they have.

If you have been doing all of the things we have been
recommending in this publication for the past year to improve
your market position, you should be in great shape to compete
for customers. If not, its time for a review. If you have the back
issues of the Business e-Journal , dig them out and start reading.
If you don't have them, you can get them from our web site
http://www.antiques-sos.com or let us know and we'll email them
to you.

The articles and the information they contain will provide many
ideas you can begin to use immediately to counter the current
problems associated with expensive gasoline. Now is the time
to take effective counteraction and win the buyers to your
antique mall.

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

Online Auctions

There are literally hundreds of online auctions which would like to
receive the merchandise you have to consign. As a mall owner
or manager, however, your concern is not with how many on line
auctions there are. Rather, your concern is which one is right for
the merchandise you are offering. This is especially important
when you are dealing with other people's merchandise.

Online auctions can offer an efficient way of selling merchandise
which has been locally stagnant. Assuming that the merchandise
is as represented, placing it upon an online auction gives it
exposure that could be achieved in no other way.

Make no mistake about it, placing your dealers' merchandise on
online auctions involves work --- sometimes a lot of it. Photos
must be taken (digital or digitized), descriptions written, and the
information entered into the auction site. Then the auction has to
be tracked, questions answered, confirmation of sale provided,
payment received and credited, and merchandise packed and
shipped. And, as an unfortunate fact of business life, returns
have to processed and dealt with.

The auctions frequently charge listing fees and, usually,
commissions for successful auction sales. You have to be paid
for your work and, hopefully, earn at least a minimal fee. And, of
course, the dealer wants his merchandise sold at a profit. One
of the primary keys to making a profit entering other people's
merchandise onto online auction sites is using a high degree of
automation.

There is some really good auction management software
available to help you manage the merchandise and the auctions
with which it is associated. Excellent software is available
to enter merchandise, upload it to auction sites, monitor bids,
close auctions, accept payment and provide shipping instructions.
We'll be talking more about this in future issues.

One thing to aware of is that some states (New Hampshire comes
to mind) prohibit mall owners from placing other people's
merchandise on online auctions without obtaining an auctioneer's
license. Make sure that you are on solid legal ground before you
set up to offer this service.

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

Making Your Mall Lawsuit Resistant

Being sued, for any reason, is no ones idea of fun. Receiving a
"blueback" can put a real twist in your knickers. Even if you "win",
it does, in fact, result in an expensive, gut wrenching experience
which can put you on an emotional roller coaster.

There are people in this world, and we all know some of them,
who will sue anyone for financial gain. And, there are, all too
unfortunately, lawyers who will pursue and encourage such
lawsuits. Although litigation of this sort serves no legitimate
social purpose, it does exist -- that's just reality.

Quite honestly, there is little you can do to dissuade someone
from filing a lawsuit if they are bent on doing so. You can and
should, however, take whatever opportunity you can to minimize
your exposure. This article is not meant as legal advice. That is
what your attorney is for. It is, however, meant to offer common
sense suggestions for trying to address issues in your mall which
could lead to litigation.

We discussed most of the issues which could make your antique
or craft mall a target for litigation in the September and October
1999 issues. Frankly, based upon what we see as at least a
moderate level of exposure, most antique malls have been
reasonably fortunate with respect to being sued. However, that
is no reason to let your guard down.

Anyone can be a target for a lawsuit -- for any reason. You can,
however, minimize the opportunity. Your antique or craft mall is a
place of public accommodation. You have "invited" the buying
public to come to and enter your mall so you must provide
accommodations which are reasonably free from hazards.
Fortunately, hard nosed common sense (which sometimes isn't
so common) will provide many, if not most, of the answers you
need. Don't forget that your dealers are also invitees. For legal
advice specific to your situation consult with your attorney.

Antique malls, especially, can and frequently do house hazards.
You have to be concerned about institutional hazards, that
is hazards inherent to your mall and its operations as well as
those brought about by dealer activities and naturally occurring
events. The following information is presented to suggest
examples of areas in which to look. It is by no means
comprehensive nor is it intended to be all inclusive.

Some potentially significant institutional hazards are:

• Electrical hazards are quite common and can be quite dangerous.
The can result in shock, burns and even death. Make sure that
your mall is electrical code compliant and that all electrical
problems are investigated. Make sure that any indicated repairs
are made properly and promptly.

• Trip hazards can present serious problems. Make sure that all
carpets are securely tacked down so that there are no protruding
edges. Properly secure all stair runners and make sure that any
loose rugs don't slip or lead to tripping.

• Ladders and step stools present special problems. If you
provide ladders or step stools for reaching otherwise inaccessible
merchandise, make absolutely sure that they conform to current
OSHA safety standards and are in excellent condition. Never
allow a customer to use them, reserving their use for your staff.

• All publicly accessible interior and exterior areas must be
properly lighted. Special care must be taken to provide
illumination in stair wells, stair ways, parking lots used after dark,
hallways and doorways.

• Hot water supply temperatures to all restrooms must be limited
to prevent accidental scalding. It's a great way to save energy
costs too.

• Ice and snow must either be removed from surfaces or treated
as soon as possible after precipitation to minimize the opportunity
for falls.

• Pendant ice or ice on gutters and roofs must be
promptly removed or foot traffic redirected to minimize the
opportunities for injury.

• Exits must be clearly marked, free from obstructions, and
unencumbered by ropes, chains or bars when your mall is
occupied.

• Loading docks must be properly marked and guarded to conform
to OSHA standards. The use of loading docks should be
restricted to your staff and dealers only.

• Any and all heaters and heating systems should confirm to all
applicable codes. Absolutely no open flames should be permitted.
All heating elements must be guarded and all heaters should be
equipped with tip/shutoff switches.

• All flammable liquids must be properly secured and stored in
OSHA approved cabinets and used properly.

Part 2 will continue in the next issue

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DAVE'S SOAPBOX
by David P. Cunningham

Internet Taxes

Most of us have read or listened to the discussions centering
upon the taxation of internet commerce. These discussions are
arcane, show tremendous bias depending upon who is doing the
discussing and we are told of no concern to mere mortals. Even
the commission appointed by Congress to study the taxation of
internet commerce couldn't come to an agreement.

Is the subject arcane and subject to bias ? It sure is. Is it of no
concern to mere mortals ? No ! Absolutely no ! The issue of
taxation of internet commerce is of immediate concern to all of us
that are the least bit involved with internet auctions and
storefronts. It is far too important to leave settlement of the issue
to politicians and the special interests who pander to them.

Why ? Because the whole issue of sales and other internet
commerce taxes, with multiple jurisdictions, truly weird tax
structures, and highly complicated and conflicting regulations is
small businesses worst nightmare. Just as an example, it is
estimated that there are in excess of 30,000 sales tax jurisdictions
in the United States. For small businesses, placing sales tax
collection regulations on internet commerce is tantamount to
driving them out of business. The hideous complexity involved in
these taxes is simply not worth it.

I'll avoid any discussion of the philosophy or politics of taxation.
That's grist for a book. But, I am a staunch advocate of small
business. And, it's small businesses, including ours, which will
suffer severely as a result of additional internet commerce taxes.
The big companies can afford to comply and, in fact, one suspects
see taxation as a way of eliminating smaller competition.

What can you do ? Contact your Congressional delegation as
well as your Governor. Tell them how important it is to you and
your business that you not be saddled with an unreasonable tax
reporting burden. Explain to them that the internet, as a medium
of commerce, needs to grow and develop so that tens of
thousands of small businesses can prosper and profitably employ
hundreds of thousands of people -- all of whom pay taxes. Do it
now before its too late.

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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.northernlight.com

Is a search engine site that offers exceptional well organized
searches and very good results. Folders can be provided for
your search results so you can keep them organized. Northern
Light is rapidly attracting a very loyal following and expanding
quickly, searching some 5400 magazines, journals and newswires.
Well recommended.

http://www.britannica.com

Is the full search site of Encyclopedia Britannica. The site
offers the full contents of the encyclopedia and is an excellant
source of research information. Complete and easy to use,
this site is highly recommended.

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

Graphics Images for the Web

Graphics are important elements of any web page. They add
information, facilitate navigation, add interest and identify the
owner of the page. Graphic images can take the form of
drawings, photographs, maps, diagrams or logos which help to
display the information you wish to convey. Graphics can be
used to facilitate navigation by including "hot spots" which are
programmed to act as hyperlinks when clicked.

You can import graphics into your HTML documents as elements.
The graphics are usually in one of two formats; the CompuServe
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) or Joint Photographics Expert
Group Format (JPEG).

Both GIF and JPEG formats are bitmapped or raster graphics
and are capable of representing a wide selection of image types.
Included are photographs, pictures of text, paintings and
drawings. A very important factor concerning GIF and JPEG
formats is that they can be displayed cross platform. That is,
they can be manipulated and viewed on Unix, Mac or PC systems
as well as others.

Also very significant is the fact that both GIF and JPEG formats
employ compression schemes which can significantly reduce the
size of the image file. The ability of the GIF and JPEG formats to
reduce file sizes is critically important. Because color information
about an image is stored pixel by pixel, raster images can be very
large. And, large images can be quite slow to download because
they contain so much information.

Add several images and download times can be quite long indeed
-- so long that your visitors will be long gone before the images
appear on their screen. Most web site viewers are still using dial
up lines and relatively slow modems and do not have access to
high speed connections.

Here's a really important fact to consider and remember. As a
web site owner employing images, your goal should be to produce
the smallest graphics files possible without affecting the
functionality of the images. Basically, there are three ways to
achieve this: use a compression process, reduce the number of
colors in an image or strip pixels out of an image.

Compression Processes

Compression processes are graphics file format dependent and
employ sophisticated mathematical algorithms for compression
and decompression. Both GIF and JPEG image file formats are
similar in this respect. However, the GIF format is a lossless
format and JPEG is a lossy format.

A lossless format is one in which information is not lost or
discarded. A lossy format is one in which information is lost or
discarded and is, therefore, not recoverable.

That is GIF files preserve all of the visual data found in the
original image. No information is altered or discarded during the
operation of the compression/decompression algorithm. The
compression algorithm looks for areas of repeated red, green,
blue (RGB) information within the image and stores that
information just once, noting the location of the repeats. It is not
unusual to reduce a GIF image file size by half.

JPEG format files, on the other hand, do not preserve all of the
visual data in an original image, thus the term "lossy" compression.
Significant amounts of data are discarded during the operation of
the JPEG compression algorithm --- and they are not recoverable.
If the amount of compression is excessive, image quality will be
adversely affected. Depending upon the required quality of the
image, very high compression ratios (e.g. 17:1) can be achieved.
A word of caution, however. A highly compressed image can take
a significant amount of time to decompress sufficiently to appear
on the screen, obviating the download time speed savings.

Reduce the Number of Colors

Another way of increasing download speed is to reduce the
number of colors in the image. 16.7 million potential colors can
be squeezed into 256 colors without severely affecting the image
as presented on a color monitor. In effect, this is a decision to
use the GIF format which supports a maximum of 8 bit color as
compared to the JPEG image file format. That is, each pixel
contains a maximum of 8 bits of color information. It's possible to
get away with this because most color monitors will display a
perfectly adequate image under these conditions.

Be aware that the technology of imaging is very complex and
demanding. If your image resolution and the colors have to be
perfect let an expert take care of your needs. Odd effects do
happen as a result of conflicts in color pallets and the
idiosyncrasies of Windows.

Part 2 continues in the next issue

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A LITTLE LIGHT ON WINDOWS

A Little Light on Windows 0300

Fat Pipes

What are "fat pipes" you ask ? Fat pipes are fiber optic cables
capable of carrying huge amounts of information -- and the
infrastructure to feed and support them. Fat pipes, when fully
implemented will enable access to technologies we can currently
only dream about. Sometimes called bandwidth, the amount of
cheap, reliable worldwide information transfer capacity available
will enable streaming video, video conferencing, inter mall sales,
advanced voice communications and data interchange networks.
Antique mall commerce, web stores and auctions will take on a
whole new dimension and work in real time.

How do I know ? I've read about it extensively, of course --- who
hasn't ? Perhaps I understand more of what is happening
because I was so closely associated basic technologies for so
many years. Like so many things that have brought us
incalculable benefits, these technologies have their roots in
military and NASA development projects.

But I've seen it even more closely in more recent times. Major
communications companies have installed high capacity fiber
optic communications cables (fat pipes) through our property
here in Wyoming. The cables and their supporting structures
are disarmingly simple looking but are astounding technological
achievements. It's here, I've seen it and I've held it in my hand.
It isn't a pipe dream.

The technology made available to us will turn our world on its
collective ear. The advances in communications has the capacity
to make our lives significantly better and, simultaneously, much
more complex. A bewildering array of Digital Subscriber Lines
(DSL), Cable Modems, Fiber Optic Connections, and Two Way
Satellite Connections will become available over the next several
years. It is up to us to harness the communications power
available to us to our collective betterment.

We, at Software Gallery, are moving ahead with useful and
exciting products and alliances to take advantage of the
opportunities that are being presented. Katie bar the door !
You haven't seen anything yet !

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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 fine institutions 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 Antique and Craft Mall Business 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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