Indochino.com sells tailor-made men's suits over the internet. After successfully seeking out financing and tailoring partners, co-founders Kyle Vucko and Heikal Gani set to work on building Indochino: the world's first online service for hand-tailored men's suits.

Here's how the process work: once a customer submits the measurements and order with Indochino.com, the order is received and reviewed with the tailors and standard size charts.

The fabric is then cut and the tailor takes it back to his workshop where he will make a chalk outline based on your measurements, cut out, and then assemble your suit. It can take up to 8 hours to make one suit. The suit goes back to Indochino.com where they receive the suit, inspect it closely, and then package it for shipping worldwide. The whole process from order to arrival is within two weeks but the company is currently averaging about 9 days.

Indochino.com

Luxist: Every woman has at least a few jewelry pieces hanging around from past relationships, and although some of them may be sentimental in value and very special, others are ... well ... not. But what to do with that ugly diamond necklace when the pawn shop just won't pay a fair price? Ex-Boyfriend Jewelry offers up a solution with their theme of "buy, sell, trade, blog about the boy." Not only can you list your gold and diamonds for the price you think is fair, but you can also let off a little steam and vent about your ex's annoying habits and bad taste in jewelry.

Ex-Boyfriend Jewelry: Sell, Trade, Vent? [Luxist]

SomethingStore is a fun new website that will send you "something", an item selected randomly among many things from their inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it.

It may be something you need, something you want or something you desire. A cool gadget, rare book, handmade necklace, reverse clock or maybe a box of gourmet chocolates. Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique. 4,917 somethings have been ordered since October 2007.

SomethingStore.com

Springwise: BookRenter.com is yet another example of a web start-up leaping into a nightmarish logistics problem to make life easier for its customers. The US venture has amassed a multi-million-volume library of new or near-new textbooks, which it rents out to students at college campuses throughout the country. Rental periods range from one to four months, and the savings for students can reach 75 percent of a book’s retail price. Adopting the increasingly popular ‘Netflix model’, BookRenter offers students convenient delivery options and lets them return books by UPS at no charge. Rental terms can be extended as needed, and students can also decide to buy a book if they’d like to keep it.

Textbook rental for college students [Springwise]

Business Wire: With over six months in development, The p.i.n.k. Spirits Company announced today the launch of a new website that incorporates a level of design and functionality that has yet to be seen in the distilled spirits category.

The website, www.pinkspirits.com, enables the visitor to participate in the excitement that is inherent in the p.i.n.k. Spirits Brand by providing an exciting interactive experience. The site not only incorporates new educational tools for retail store owners, bartenders, account managers, and consumers, but it also provides up-to-the-minute details on p.i.n.k. events, breaking news, and latest happenings. The site also provides an enhanced search feature to locate p.i.n.k. spirits in any account in the country that sells the product, as well as enabling the visitor to purchase specially designed merchandise at the p.i.n.k. store.

David Mandell, President & CEO of p.i.n.k. Spirits says, “We’ve once again raised the bar in the spirits industry by developing a site as revolutionary as our products. We’re now bringing the ‘p.i.n.k. experience’ directly to the customer.” The new, enhanced site will be updated daily and will also feature the latest p.i.n.k. events and national promotions.

The p.i.n.k. Spirits Company Launches “Caffeinated” Website [Business Wire]

ClayValet is a Seattle-based startup on a mission to simplify the way people find products online. It is a free personal shopping service that uses real people to find items that best satisfy customers’ individual needs.

Internet giants like Amazon and Ebay offer endless product choices but cannot respond to lengthy queries. Many people experience frustration when they cannot communicate their detailed needs to a search engine.

At ClayValet, real people research your shopping inquiries. The company's shoppers scour the Internet to find the best products at the best prices, and you receive a free personalized report with product recommendations, expert opinions, customer reviews and links to purchase within 24 hours of your request. Visitors to ClayValet can also see what other people are shopping for — from digital cameras to dresses to dog leashes — and get inspired to write their own product requests.

ClayValet was officially released to the public on Black Friday, November 23rd, 2007. In the days since its release, hundreds of users have signed up to let ClayValet shop for them.

ClayValet.com

Springwise: Swiss Netgranny is a collective of 15 grannies who knit socks on demand and sell them online. Customers can choose their favourite granny from a gallery of 'Grosis', which includes information on why the women knit ('not for money, just to pass the time') or about their professional credentials ('at age 6, I taught my 4 year-old sister to knit').

Customers pick the colour of their socks, or opt for a surprise design. After placing an order, their personal sock-knitting granny will take approximately two weeks to knit the pair of socks, which are sold for CHF 39 (USD 33 / EUR 26) a pair, including delivery.

Socks with a story [Springwise]

New coupon aggregator site CouponCowgirl.com launched last week and is generating praise for its design, personality and user-friendliness. The site targets popular apparel, consumer electronic and flower and gift brands, serving consumers by compiling online discounts for hundreds of retailers in one location.

The site launch was more successful than anticipated. ”The response we’ve received so far from consumers and advertisers has been encouraging,” said Couponcowgirl.com co-founder Heather Foley. Co-founder Kathryn Frankel adds, “I’m especially excited about our blog, CCG ShopTalk, because it gives us an opportunity to interact with our visitors. We didn’t want to be just another coupon site - we want to build a relationship with fellow savvy online shoppers.”

As more and more consumers turn to online shopping, coupon sites are growing in popularity. “In the past, the problem with coupons was that often you had to do extra work to get the discount. In the real world, finding the best deal can be exhausting, but online, with Couponcowgirl.com gathering all the best deals and putting them in one place, consumers really benefit,” said Foley.

Couponcowgirl.com founders are Chicago-based women who understand the value of a good deal. “Everyone loves to save money, whether on a splurge or something they would buy anyway, but tracking down a discount can be time consuming. That’s what makes our site so successful—we do the work for you,” said Frankel.

For those who are unfamiliar with using online discount offers, Couponcowgirl.com offers a detailed “How To” as well as a savings calculator. And while the site’s name suggests a largely female audience, shoppers will find discounts on goods and services for both men and women in the Cowboy Steals section.

* * *

We spoke to Kathryn about CouponCowgirl.com, what makes it unique, and what makes them create CouponCowgirl.com:

What makes it unique?

Heather and I have a combined 8 years experience in the affiliate world and have been working with coupon sites and merchants for years. Over the years we really came to understand the give and take necessary between an affiliate site and a merchant to achieve success. Frankly, we were just plain frustrated with how many sites were doing it "wrong". We'd always talk about how we would do things better if we had an affiliate site, and that's how it started. Within two weeks of our first conversation we hired a designer and a programmer and we were on our way. Funny story about the name... Heather and I debated for weeks about what we would call our site. We knew we wanted it to be "coupon something". One day Heather walked in with a cute pair of urban cowboy boots on and I was teasing her, calling her cowgirl, etc. Then we jokingly said "Coupon Cowgirl" and we looked at each other and we knew that was it - the Cowgirl was born.

http://www.couponcowgirl.com

Iconoculture: E-commerce has always been hailed as 24/7. But how many consumers actually click “buy” at 3 a.m.? Apparently enough to get a handful of merchants to test the midnight madness waters with e-specials from midnight till dawn. Sears, Kohl’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods all offer the early-morning specials to bleary-eyed insomniacs and busy consumers like Mom who prefer browsing and buying at the bewitching hour. The specials are also designed to lure those who don’t normally shop online.

The Email Experience Council says Sears sends a night-owl promo about every other month. Kohl’s offers early-morning specials during what the retailer calls the power hours, while Dick’s christened its effort the after-hours sale.

Not all e-retailers aim for the 3 a.m. crowd. Spiegel, for instance, targets office workers with lunchtime e-sales.

Moonlight e-shoppers find discounts till dawn [Iconoculture]

Ecommerce-Guide: Every business owner knows it: If you could just talk to prospects one-on-one, you could convert them to customers.

Click-to-chat and click-to-call features, of course, have existed for years, but now there's a new, more viral twist. Starting today you can test out a new service that attempts to combine the best of social networking with Internet-based telephony. In short, it gives visitors to your Web site or a blog a free local number to call from virtually anywhere. All you have to do is add a widget to your site, blog or e-mail signature.

Jaxtr has been in private beta testing, but now you can see and hear it for yourself as the company today announced the launch of the public beta of its service. After you sign up for a free Jaxtr account, you can link your mobile or landline phone with your online network. And while it's not strictly an e-commerce tool, it could prove itself to be a new way for you to interact with your customers. For example, the VoiceBlast feature allows you to record your own voice to automatically greet and update customers who visit your blog or Web site. By adding a "Jaxtr widget" to your online profile or blog, you can take calls from prospects worldwide while keeping both parties' phone numbers private.

Jaxtr Looks to Give Social Networking a Voice [Ecommerce-Guide]

E-commerce Guide: A new e-commerce site called Buddy Shopping that lets consumers peruse products online simultaneously with friends launched today with the promise to offer a viable new channel for Web shop owners.

Though there are features specific to the site that e-tailers can take advantage of — which we'll cover after we explain how the site works — most online shop owners won't have to do a thing to be included in the Buddy Shopping service. That's because consumers are searching online the way they regularly do, so any marketing efforts, such as organic or paid search, will still lead them to you. The difference is that they are able to do so with others in real-time.

The site, dubbed a "social netshopping" service by CEO Todd Kelly, combines e-commerce, social networking, instant messaging and the sharing of merchandise.

Who's Your Buddy? A New Social Shopping Site [E-commerce Guide]

Influx Insights: Influx has written in the past about variable pricing models and how these might one day become a key component of business, we have now found an interesting example in a new music site called Amie Street.

This independent music site uses demand-driven pricing; where the community dictates the pricing of the tracks. All tracks start out at zero and can rise to 98 cents depending on sales.

The site encourages community members of recommend and find music and gives back 70% of the proceeds to artists after the first $5 in sales.

Amie Street have some smart technology that prevents artificial inflation, but openly encourage musicians to mobilize their fan bases to use the site and buy the tracks.

Demand driven pricing models [Influx Insights]

SiteKreator: SiteKreator was designed to help businesses accelerate brand recognition, build customer loyalty, and increase sales by giving them a one-stop solution to easily create stylish, interactive, and effective Web sites. SiteKreator is a fully-hosted online application that eliminates the need to download, install, or upgrade software.

Prior to SK Business Edition, customers would either hire a designer or agency, use generic tools for site design and/or blogging, or use software to help build their sites. SiteKreator pulls together the best of the Web’s most important features and capabilities, without the high price tag or forcing a “generic” design. Unlike Google Pages and other do-it-yourself site design tools, SiteKreator is Web 2.0 ready, enabling businesses to easily implement interactive features, such as blogs, Web forms, and discussion forums, to engage visitors and convert them into repeat customers. Web site information can be tiered through multiple content layers by adding members-only areas and registration forms to encourage visitors to share key information in exchange for access to deeper layers of meaningful content.

SiteKreator - http://www.sitekreator.com

deepikaglobal.com: The consumer-friendly website mouthshut.com is planning to launch a blogging space for the corporates to contact or respond to their consumers directly.

This will allow a two-way interaction between customers and corporates about complaints, new products, services and mass clarifications, mouthshut.com CEO Faisal Farooqui told UNI.

Mr Farooqui said, most people buy goods on recommendations from friends, who do not gain anything in providing their honest opinion about the products. mouthshut.com is a similar base where people speak of their experience about different products and someone looking for opinions can check up the ratings on that product and consider whether they want to buy it or not.

On many occasions the website has been contacted by corporates who want to respond to the consumers, not on an individual level but rather reach out with the corporate version of a situation on a mass scale, which ultimately led to the development of the to-be-launched corporate blog, he said.

mouthshut.com to launch corporate-consumer blog [deepikaglobal.com]

DailyCandy: Click. Scroll. Click. Scroll. Click. Scroll.

Whoa, shopping online is, like, totally wild!

Or — not so much. Which is why we are stoked to introduce you to Etsy, a new, experimental, and totally awesome website that challenges the norms of online shopping.

Run by a group of computer whiz kids, the site offers indie designers the space to showcase and sell their handmade work (kind of like an eBay for crafty types). It’s easy and cheap to post any creation (craft supplies, clothing, geekery, vintage gear, edibles). But it’s even easier and more fun to shop.

You see, the beautifully designed Etsy utilizes technology that lets you search not just by category or top sellers but also by color (just click any of the virtual swatches) and geography (you can finally find out what’s being made in Scottsbluff, Nebraska). You can even look at stuff via time machine or in 3-D (explore for yourself.)

Later this month, they’ll be employing multiuser shopping, which allows you to you invite friends to browse along with you in real time. You get to see each other’s cursors move across the page as you search and click. Discuss/fight over finds without a phone, e-mail, or IM.

Just Browsering [DailyCandy]

Entrepreneur: Give me $1,000, and I'll give you results." Those were the words David Aitken used to convince the owners of The Heritage Group to invest in his idea. Aitken, 30, was a call-center manager for the Utah company, which specialized in residential mortgage refinancing. Aitken knew the refinancing boom they were riding would eventually end, so he approached owners Brad Stone, 52; Mark Strong, 58; and Leah Young, 36, with a new idea: Help small-business owners develop websites to rival those of larger companies. So little capital was necessary to get started, says Strong, that investing in it was a "no-brainer."

Armed with only $1,000, Aitken hired a part-time telemarketer for $8 an hour to call business owners on a list he purchased for $250. Aitken made follow-up sales calls in his off hours. Once he started selling the $199 websites, Aitken brought on his brother Jeremy and friend Eddie Dockery to help build them. All three worked without compensation for several months, with the promise that if Heritage Web Solutions became successful, they would be guaranteed spots in the new company.

Seeing the Sites [Entrepreneur]

CNET: A new shopping Web site due to launch Aug. 22 will let people buy products online from companies that share their customers' social values.

Alonovo.com lets people define the social and environmental values they feel are important and see how different merchants perform in those areas using data from KLD Research and Analytics. The areas include labor relations, animal rights, fair trade, charitable giving, clean-energy use and recycling, among others.

The sales are made through Amazon.com and buyers have access to merchants affiliated with that site.

Alonovo.com--the word alonovo is Latin for "sustainable change"--earns a commission of 5 percent to 7.5 percent for every transaction and will donate 20 percent of that commission to a nonprofit organization of the buyer's choice. The list includes American Red Cross, The Sierra Club, UNICEF and Global Exchange.

Socially responsible online shopping [CNET]

BizReport: When students in Leslie Chernila's English class at the Art Institute of Washington write an essay about the work of Garrison Keillor, she has them send it off to a critic halfway across the country before turning it in. The paper soon returns, complete with comments about structure and word choice.

The service, offered by District-based Smarthinking Inc., is part of a growing educational trend that has millions of students logging on to get assistance with reading, writing and arithmetic. Once a dot-com pipe dream, online education is now maturing into a viable market. More than 2.6 million students in the United States were expected to study online through courses and tutoring last fall, up from 1.9 million in 2003, according to the Sloan Consortium, an online research group.

Online Tutoring Part of Growing Trend [BizReport.com]

Startup Journal: Dan Mowry thought he knew just how to turn his family entertainment newsletter into a successful online business. Two years ago, he designed an attractive site and loaded it up with features to entice readers and advertisers: electronic crossword puzzles, a history quiz and cartoons. Almost as an afterthought, he designed a T-shirt with his company's logo, a circus ringmaster holding a megaphone.

Today the online and print newsletters have flopped. But the shirts are pulling in up to $3,000 per month, as Mr. Mowry joins the growing ranks of entrepreneurs profiting from an improbable but lucrative Web business model: selling T-shirts.

All over the Web, bloggers, artists and entrepreneurs are unexpectedly finding that T-shirts are more reliable moneymakers than the original ideas that brought them to the Internet.

Selling T-Shirts Is Big Business on Web [Startup Journal]

AP via Yahoo! News: Consumer spending on online content such as music, dating sites and business and investment information grew 14 percent last year to $1.8 billion, an organization of online publishers reported Thursday.

The Online Publishers Association, working with comScore Networks, a group that studies consumer behavior online, said in its report that the biggest gain came in spending on entertainment, which jumped 90 percent over a year ago to $413.5 million, driven mainly by greater purchases of music.

Spending on dating sites remained the top category, however, growing 4.4 percent in 2004 to $469.5 million last year. Spending on business and investment fell 6.3 percent to $312.9 million, the group reported.

Other big gainers in online spending were games, up 21.8 percent to $88.8 million, and sports, up 38 percent to $52.8 million.

Consumer Online Spending Grows 14 Percent [AP via Yahoo! News]

eMarketer: eMarketer's team of analysts and researchers give their predictions of what to look out for in 2005 in the Internet, e-business and emerging tech arena.

1. Alternative Advertising
2. RSS
3. AOL Changes
4. On-Demand TV
5. Wireless Broadband
6. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
7. Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
8. Linux
9. Cross-Channel Retail
10. IT Security

Top Ten E-Business Trends for 2005 [eMarketer]

USA Today: EBay unfurled an initiative Thursday to lead PC makers and environmental groups in a major push to recycle more of the 400 million electronic products that are trashed annually. EBay plans to promote the program on its Web site, where consumers can resell, recycle or donate used electronics.

Got An Old PC? Don't Trash It: Recycle It [USA Today]

Business 2.0: The second Internet boom is quietly taking shape -- and this one looks like it's going to last. Here's how six innovative businesses learned from the past and have begun to make the Web work for them.

How to Make Money on the Net [Business 2.0]

BusinessWeek: Remember when the ultimate in personalizing a gift was adding a monogram? Today inscribing initials on luggage or towels seems quaintly old-fashioned compared to what's available on the Web. Thanks to improvements in software that display customized goods online, guide users through the selection process, and automate production, individualizing a gift has gotten far more sophisticated -- and, dare we say, trendy -- this holiday season.

Web Retailing Gets Really Personal [BusinessWeek]

The New York Times: Thanks to the breakneck growth of residential cable modem and D.S.L. services, this is the first year when most Internet users do not have to rely on their workplace for high-speed connections. Instead of hiding the Amazon checkout page when the boss approaches, more shoppers are logging on after work and sparing their nerves.

As a result, e-commerce executives are operating with clearer consciences, unapologetically building sites with video, zoom and other advanced features to please high-speed surfers at the risk of outraging customers using dial-up connections. The reward to the companies, they said, has been an increase in sales of items that would have previously collected dust, and surprisingly few complaints from low-bandwidth users.

The Internet’s Retail Appeal [The New York Times]

Target Corp. has launched a service called 'Target To a T' (which will be available online through its Web site, Target.com) that uses computers to customize clothing for its customers. A request for shoppers' measurements, shapes, size, preferred style and color can be easily made online. The information gathered will be then used to help customize selected Target brand clothes. The price range for the clothes offered is reasonable too, appealing to the masses. So, Target Corp. has decided to customize clothing while at the same time, mass-producing it.

Let's Get Down To Business...
Although e-shopping can be convenient and easy, it sometimes lacks that human touch and the "customized" feel. Technology is a faceless thing and with Target Corp.'s brainchild, they might just revolutionize the way we shop online! Target Corp. is trying to mass customize its product. On one hand, it will not lose its competitive edge when it comes to prices as mass production lowers costs. On the other hand, it attracts and maintains loyalty among its customers as it can provide a more personal and more customized service that other e-shops might lack. Thus, it is a good idea that we keep in mind the fact that consumers want convenience, efficiency while still maintaining that personal touch in their shopping experience!

Related Ideas & Trends
Target press release
Target launches customized clothing service [Bizjournals]
How To Become a Global Retailer Instantly [CoolBusinessIdeas.com]
The Thing About Toys and Action Figures [CoolBusinessIdeas.com]

In e-commerce, you would have to try all kinds of marketing methods to get visitors to browse through your online mall and make a purchase. Would the paper catalog which many traditional marketers still swear by do the job for your e-business? Entrepreneur.com cites research results which show that this traditional strategy is quite helpful to a e-commerce website:

Catalog recipients account for 22 percent of traffic to a catalog company's Web site and 37 percent of its e-commerce dollars. Catalog recipients make 16 percent more visits to that company's Web site than those who do not receive a catalog. Catalog recipients view 22 percent more pages and spend 15 percent more time at the Web site than those who do not receive a catalog. On average, the total amount spent on a Web site by a catalog recipient is $39, more than twice the $18 spent by noncatalog consumers.

Read: Double Play [Entrepreneur.com]

In a real jewelry shop, you can just walk in and the salesperson will attend to you personally, with recommendations on which pieces suit you best and what the latest fashion trends are. But what happens if you're trying to buy from an online jewelry e-tailer? Will there be anybody to serve you personally? Well, the answer is yes, at least at TokenStyle. DailyCandy reports:

Put an end to such mishaps with TokenStyle jewelry, a site featuring earrings and necklaces constructed of drop-dead-gorgeous stones like garnet, topaz, and cherry quartz, strung along dangling chains and wires. Some of the pieces have an exotic flair and are named after far-off lands, like Kyoto or Sydney. Best of all, you get suggestions for clothing to match specific styles. Can't decide whether you'd actually wear the daring Goa earrings? Problem solved: Token tells you they pair perfectly with fall's '50s-inspired skirts. It's just one way of ensuring that you make good choices.

Read: Token Gesture [DailyCandy]

eCommerce-Guide.com has an article about CyberSource’s "Bill Me Later" alternative payment service. As described in the article, alternative forms of online payment to credit cards are part of a growing trend in the e-commerce domain.

Alternative payments are also being pushed as a way to boost sales. New research suggests that accepting multiple payment types can help in converting visitors to buyers. And financing available through non-credit card methods provides similar pay-as-you-go features without comparable interest rates.

Read:
Merchants Gain "Bill Me Later" [eCommerce-Guide.com]
Web shoppers' new option: Bill me later [CNet News]

19-year-old university student Keiko Groves started her Internet-based business, Postlapsaria, with just a weblog. The clothes designer markets her original clothing to teenagers around the world who are searching for fashion that cannot be found in local malls and boutiques through her Live Journal weblog.

Groves uses her weblog on Live Journal to market her clothing because her targeted customers (those who don't like the selection at local stores and prefer original, unique designs) are bloggers too; hence they are appreciative of what a weblog does. By mixing her blog entries about her business with other posts such as photographs illustrating her life and everyday happenings, she succeeded in engaging her target audience. Such an approach attracts people to keep coming back and buying from Grooves.

Who said that you need an world-class website like Amazon.com's to sell online? You can just do so with a blog!

Read: Blogger does more than blah blah [OrlandoSentinel.com]

Where can retail shops find inexpensive and effective advertising for selling their products globally? Well, the answer lies in the Internet landscape where a worldwide audience can be found. Are you thinking of buying banner ads on Yahoo! and MSN? Sure, they are the most-visited websites today, but it costs thousands of dollars and banner ads are increasingly being ignored by Internet users. However, CoolBusinessIdeas.com has spotted an emerging form of online advertising that is not only cheap (compared to advertising with Yahoo! and co), but also effective.

Keeping retailing truly virtual: Style.com, the online home of Vogue and W magazines, recently introduced TheShop, which features, on a weekly basis, a rotating handful of online boutiques, ranging from hip, affordable work and weekend wear from Club Monaco to elaborate, collectable shoes by Edmundo Castillo (Source: Style.com). Look at that - an online magazine that provides cool e-tailing features too! The collaboration is a hit simply because TheShop adds features to Style.com, satisfying consumers' needs for original and surprising apparel, and establishing a platform for an abundance of original products from both established designers and new talent. E-tailers are also able to get good response almost instantly from the relevant, highly-targeted consumer group through this effective form of online selling.

Let's Get Down To Business...
Any retailer, by collaborating with international publications that have a worldwide audience, would set itself successfully apart from its competitors. The effective platform on which the retailer sells its products and services provides near-instant visibility and allows 'real-world' companies to enter uncharted markets on the cheap. Tapping the Internet with the help of well-known e-magazines and e-newsletters can make you a global e-tailer almost instantly. Indeed, there has been a surge in advertising and marketing with such online publications in recent times. In short, it's one of those trends that should be incorporated in every existing and new marketing and advertising strategy. In the near future, CoolBusinessIdeas.com could be providing such advertising services too. Who knows, maybe your brand will pop up on our newsletter? ;-)

Related Ideas & Trends
Look At Those Walking Ads!
The Thing About Toys and Action Figures
http://www.style.com

Quick: name me any e-tailer that comes to your mind right now. Amazon.com? You're right! With heavyweight online stores dominating the e-tailing landscape, it isn't easy at all to succeed selling online. So it's a pleasant surprise when CoolBusinessIdeas.com spotted an online toyshop that has succeeded in cyberspace.

Kidrobot (www.kidrobot.com) specializes in selling premium limited edition collectible toys called "urban vinyl action figures." They're odd but interesting figurines, like a 9-inch nightclub DeeJay with his own tiny turntable, or "Barro," a six-inch glow-in-the-dark vinyl head, or "Bounty Hunter," a 20-inch robot-like statuette (Source: ecommerce.internet.com). Designed by underground artists in Asia who blend urban street culture with hip-hop style, these toys define a unique culture with its own languageand identity.

The toys are limited edition and are produced in quantities of only 100 to 500. Hence, established toy retailers do not stock such items, allowing Kidrobot to compete in a totally different niche. Although most of its action figures are priced in the $50-60 range, it is also dedicated to collecting and selling very rare (read: very collectable) limited-edition merchandise. Quite a number cross the $200.00 mark. Big heavyweights like Toys"R"Us simply cannot sell such limited edition figurines, since such toys embody a whole culture in themselves and they'll lose their shine when commercialized just like any other merchandise.

Selling online also makes it easier for Kidrobot to encourage the growth of this nascent cultural movement. With some clever online marketing, it has managed to entice many toy collectors and shoppers to collect its interesting figurines. By paying or giving rare toys to smaller fan-based sites in exchange for ads, Kidrobot has built up a clan of like-minded websites. It also has an online gallery where photos of everything that it has ever sold are posted, much of which are limited editions. This attracts serious toy collectors who think nothing of spending hundreds of dollars on rare collectibles to its site. By having an online forum, Kidrobot inspires loyalty and facilitates the growth of a community with its very own culture.

Kidrobot is making a kill in the trendy online business. The site is so well received that it generated profits shortly after its debut!

Let's Get Down To Business...
Any toyshop would seem inconspicuous anywhere but Kidrobot has successfully set itself apart from its competitors by providing an environment for the growth of an entire culture and by deploying effective online marketing strategies.

Unless you're bent on taking on a billion-dollar corporation like Amazon.com, you should zoom in on a very specialized niche that is small yet full of potential. Retain faithful customers through community/loyalty-building initiatives. See how Kidrobot taps the Internet and becomes a global e-tailer almost instantly. Think about it: instead of making a long trip down to a shop, wouldn't it be wonderful to view and purchase what you want online from within the comfort of your own home? Lesson: sell online if you can help it!

Related Ideas & Trends
http://www.kidrobot.com
http://gear.ign.com/articles/356/356387p1.html
http://actionfigures.about.com