 
SELLING SHOES on the Internet was pretty far from Barbara Thornton's mind when she enrolled at HBS at the age of 45. The city planner and international consultant figured that opening power plants in Southeast Asia would best challenge her skills and also place her in an area of the world with strong economic potential. But when it came time to search for an entrepreneurial opportunity in earnest, Thornton realized she didn't have to travel much farther than her own closet to find her niche. "As someone who wears a size 11 1/2 shoe," she says, "I've always lamented that shoe stores never cater properly to larger-footed women. One day a shoe manufacturer finally said to me, 'Why don't you do something about that?'" Intrigued by the challenge, Thornton interviewed shoe retailers and manufacturers and even took a $6-an-hour job selling shoes in a mall to learn more about the business. Eventually she realized that opening a store specializing in designer women's shoes size 9 and up would be the perfect fit. Last August, Thornton set up one shop on Boston's trendy Newbury Street - and another on the Information Highway. With an impressive Web site designed by her assistant (and daughter), Rucker Alex, registration of the site on major Web search engines, and the recent inclusion of the company's Web address on the home page of Shoes on the Net (a popular Internet consumer site), her store, inVestments, and her Web site now reach footsore women around the country. Aside from presenting informative photo displays of the latest large-size footwear, the Web site (www.designershoes.com) offers a special service to locate and ship hard-to-find items. "We get e-mails from people searching, say, for size 13AAA boots for their teenaged, fashion-conscious daughters," says Thornton. "They're ecstatic when we can find them something that not only fits but is stylish." Although the Web site was online before the physical store was up and running ("UPS went on strike the day we opened, leaving us shoeless," laughs Thornton), the Internet side of the business is, the new proprietress admits, nascent. "Right now we're mostly getting inquiries," she says. "The online aspect mainly enhances the retail end. A lot of people come in because they've seen us on the Web, or they order by Web something they bought from us in another color." Thornton anticipates, however, that all that will soon change. "There's huge potential for us on the Internet," she says. "Now that we're on Shoes on the Net, for example, our cybercommerce has jumped dramatically. Before long, I'm not going be worrying about how I'm going to sell all those shoes. I'm going to be worrying about where I'm going to get all those shoes I'm selling on the Net!" - Marguerite Rigoglioso |