Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Named to Internet Retailer's 'Best of the Web Top 50'

Vermont Teddy Bear Co. Named to Internet Retailer's 'Best of the Web Top 50'

December 2004 (Newstream) -- The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is adding another accolade to the increasing number of awards for the Company's online store, www.VermontTeddyBear.com. The Company's website has been named to Internet Retailer's "Best of the Web Top 50" just months after being ranked 150th in the magazine's Top 300 Retail Websites based on online sales volume.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company's website was judged in the Specialty Retail category. According to Internet Retailer, winners in this category must excel in at least three areas: providing customers enough information to support the purchase of specialty products; tailoring the shopping experience to the way their customers like to shop; and providing consistency in products and service across all channels that a merchant chooses to sell through.

"This is a great example of a company that has succeeded in a niche market," says Heather Dougherty, senior analyst with Nielsen/NetRatings. "They've been able to allow customers to make their gifts unique."

Internet Retailer's editors base their selections on consultations with members of Internet Retailer's Editorial Board of Advisers and with industry consultants and analysts, nominations from readers and the editors' own experience in dealing with sites, both professionally and personally, throughout the year.

According to the magazine, retailers, like Vermont Teddy Bear, are doing all they can not only to improve the online shopping experience and but also to bring to online shopping features and benefits that just aren't possible in a store or a catalog. The magazine says that VermontTeddyBear.com leverages the web to not only let customers customize products, but to see their personalized teddy bears before purchasing it. Plus, the Internet allows them to order 24 hours a day, choose their own accessories and add-ons, compose their own personal gift card message, and get it shipped the same business day.

"When you are selling over the phone, the customer has to trust you as to what the bear will look like," says Tom Funk, web manager for Vermont Teddy Bear. "But with the Internet, they can actually see the bear they are ordering."

In the first year of offering products online in 1997, Vermont Teddy Bear Co. secured about 10 percent of its total sales, roughly $1.7 million, online. That number has since grown to over 50 percent accounting for $28 million in online sales in 2004. In total, Vermont Teddy Bear Co. and its sister companies had over 9 million-web site visitors in 2003 alone.

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is the largest hand-crafter of teddy bears in North America. A creative alternative to sending flowers, each Bear-Gram gift includes a customized hand crafted teddy bear with a personal greeting card and candy treat, all packaged in a colorful gift box with air hole and game printed on the inside.

Ordering a Bear-Gram is fast and easy. Customers can order online at www.VermontTeddyBear.com or with a five-minute phone call to 1-800-829-BEAR. Bear-Gram orders received by 5 P.M. (Eastern Standard Time) or 4 P.M. on the Internet can be delivered to the doorstep within 24 hours if requested.

About Internet Retailer

Published by Chicago-based Vertical Web Media LLC, Internet Retailer is a monthly national business magazine and web site serving the retailing community. The magazine's 34,000 subscribers are senior executives primarily from retail chains, independent stores and catalogs. The magazine also publishes the most widely read e-mail newsletter in retailing, IRNewsLink, which is distributed twice weekly to 27,000 opt-in subscribers.


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