Getting Into the Internet Bag

JUMPING INTO THE e-commerce waters is still treacherous. But a brave group of executives has left their safe jobs at luggage company Samsonite to start eBags Inc., Denver (www.ebags.com), seeking to become the Amazon.com of luggage and the like.

The business is the brainchild of president and CEO Jon Nordmark, who had been at Samsonite for 11 years, most recently as senior director of marketing for North and South America.

Nordmark started working on eBags in early 1997. It took him a year to get the team in place and another to get financing. This is no fly-by-night operation (pardon the pun). The company has capital from some heavy hitters: Benchmark Capital, Mitsubishi, Dain Rauscher Wessels and partners from Goldman Sachs.

Nordmark brought on a senior management team that combined has 60 years’ experience in the luggage, bag and retail industries. Vice president of marketing Peter Cobb and vice president of merchandising Andrew Youngs were in marketing at Samsonite. Chairman Frank Steed was president of Samsonite USA and American Tourister. CFO Eliot Cobb was with retail chain The Wherehouse. The company now has 40 employees.

In a sense, the long start-up time worked out for eBags because the Internet now has more bandwidth. Nordmark says that’s crucial for his high-end products (the average purchase has been a little under $150)-eBags shows five photos for each item.

Bags officially debuted May 17 and has experienced 49% sales growth per week since its March soft launch. The site has 1,400 SKUs and wants to have between 5,000 and 10,000 by December. The company has an outsourced fulfillment center in Denver, and relationships with suppliers to drop ship.

But luggage is expected to be only 18% of the business. The site also sells handbags, golf bags, duffel bags, backpacks, briefcases, computer cases, adventure gear and diaper bags, notes Nordmark, who hired buyers specializing in those areas. Brands include Samsonite, JanSport, Eagle Creek, The North Face and Timberland.

One of the things Nordmark likes about the Internet is its speed-for example, knowing the results of your advertising almost immediately. One day in early June the company decided to switch to free delivery (using United Parcel Service). Two days later, the policy was posted on the site.

To drive traffic eBags has deals with vertical sites like Preview Travel (its target audience is busy business travelers) and is in talks with larger portals. It has signed with affiliate broker Be Free Inc. to get linked across the Web (in early June it was on 2,000 sites). And it has tested some banner advertising.

Bags has its eye on customer retention as well as acquisition, focusing on projects like an e-mail program to stay in touch with customers. It is also planning to pay frequent flyer miles (which come with purchases anyway) for customers to rate bags according to such qualities as durability, appearance and overall organization. “It gives them heavy-duty interaction with us and also provides content,” Nordmark says.

Bags provides information on the airlines’ onboard luggage requirements and its Road Warrior service offers answers to travel questions. It also has found some pilots and flight attendants who’ll answer questions-to be “the Dear Abby in the sky,” as Nordmark puts it.

But isn’t he afraid of the risk?

“I felt this was a chance in a lifetime,” Nordmark says. “The Internet will represent a dramatic shift in how we do business. We could create a brand that could be known internationally.”

But with all this forward thinking, don’t think Nordmark has forgotten where he came from: Samsonite is one of eBags’ biggest suppliers.

THINK ABOUT IT Digital Asset Management Inc., Stamford, CT, has launched ThinkDirectMarketing.com, offering industry news, articles and reports, interactive tools, calendars, forums and live chats.

The site will also feature ThinkDirectMail, a subscription-based list generator. For a $195 annual fee, DMers can search for up to a million names per year in its 130-million-name consumer and business database by ZIP code, SIC code, geographic radius or name and address.

The data is provided by Acxiom Corp. and is updated monthly. Digital Asset Management, founded last year, is especially targeting small- and medium-sized businesses looking to do direct marketing.

EAU DE HEAD BUTT Miami-based Perfumania Inc., which runs 288 retail stores and in February opened an e-commerce site (www.perfumania.com), has signed a licensing agreement with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to make and market a new upscale fragrance line.

A wrestling perfume? Eau de Sweat?

Don’t laugh.

Perfumania chairman/CEO Ilia Lekach said in an interview that WCW, which is owned by Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting System, has 35 million loyal viewers who watch weekly matches on TBS and TNT. “The attraction is we have a captive audience,” says Lekach. “To have 35 million loyal fans behind us is a powerful tool.”

The first scent in the line will be a men’s cologne, Nitro, available for pre-order at the Web site in November-just in time for Christmas. A women’s fragrance will follow.

Lekach said the men’s scent has a “sporty and manly smell” to go along with its “masculine packaging.”