BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 18, 2000 ISSUE
BUSINESS WEEK E.BIZ -- WEB SMART 50 -- STREAMLINING Bringing Little Guys into the Loop No card can express the relief felt by the 20,000 retailers who use Hallmark Cards Inc.'s online marketplace to connect with suppliers. Mom-and-pop stores, the core of $4.2 billion Hallmark, didn't have the resources big retailers enjoy. That is, until the greeting card behemoth spent $30 million to create ebizmix.com, which dishes up about 70,000 items, everything from candy to stuffed animals, for retailers to stock their shelves. What makes ebizmix.com a standout is easy-to-navigate design, industry news, and an A-list of suppliers that offer discounts of up to 10% to members. ''We figure we can immediately improve a retailer's bottom line by 10% to 15%,'' says Mark Ciaramitaro, sales and marketing chief for MIX Inc., which runs ebizmix.com. By 2004, he expects to earn $200 million on revenues of $4 billion. That's a tradition Hallmark could enjoy. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _					RELATED ITEMS e.biz Contents for Sept. 18, 2000 issue Are You Web Smart? TABLE: Fast Facts Products Streamlining Customer Service Marketing Moving the Goods Management INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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