Today Camera World's site, which costs roughly $10,000 a month to maintain, handles at least 15,000 unique visitors and 400 transactions a day. It's now a full-fledged community for shutterbugs. It keeps visitors interested with increasingly snazzy features -- 3-D images of featured products, an online auction area, forums, online chats with celebrated photographers, a selection "wizard" that helps customers choose the right camera by assessing their expertise and frequency of use, and so on.
Customers can also get quick answers to their E-mailed questions. Professional photographers respond to them by E-mail or phone -- and customers even receive a notice via E-mail showing them where their question is in the queue. ("We try to get back to them within 24 hours," says Rocha.) And for those who eschew telephone handsets, an Internet-telephony feature lets customers whose computers are equipped with a sound card and a microphone connect over the Internet to talk with the sales and support staff.
When a customer orders a camera through the Web site, the transaction is zapped from the servers to the order-fulfillment database via a dedicated high-speed T1 line. A software interface between the Web site and the database reads the order and translates it into the order-entry system. Sales reps, customer-support personnel, and shippers and other warehouse workers can review the order by tapping into Camera World's database from PCs.
Every few hours, warehouse personnel print out a batch of 50 or so orders. Rush orders are printed on red paper; white paper signifies a standard UPS ground order. After a worker locates the correct product and places it in a plastic tub along with the paper order, he carts it to the shipping station, where the bar-code checking occurs. If the bar code doesn't match the order, a computer screen at the station notes the mismatch. If the match is correct, the inventory database records the product model number; when inventory reaches a low-enough level, Camera World reorders. Once the product is packaged for shipping, it's loaded onto a waiting UPS van, which departs at the end of the day. Meanwhile, an E-mail message is sent to the customer, noting the time the package is scheduled to ship. Using a confirmation number supplied by the company, the customer can check the Web site to track the order.
Picking and shipping, of course, are hardly sexy stuff. But in the crazed world of cyberspace, the nitty-gritty back end has come to matter enormously -- especially to prospective investors. "Back in 1996, when I was looking at Camera World, the guiding principle for Internet start-ups -- according to venture capitalists -- was to start from scratch with the model based on the new paradigm, and everything traditional was bad," Mina recalls. "Early on, VCs were not interested in us because we had a history. But now infrastructure, customer service, and the ability to ship on time with inventory on hand are all key elements when the VCs come knocking."
So far, Camera World is keeping customers happy. "The consensus is that there are a few retailers out there that have a great reputation and that Camera World is among the few," says Richard Rabinowitz, vice-president and group publisher of Popular Photography and American Photo.
One of the happiest customers is Aneel Bhusri, who -- like Victor Kiam of the old Remington razor commercials -- liked the company so much that he bought (into) it. Bhusri is a partner with Greylock, based in Palo Alto, Calif., one of the six venture-capital firms that have just poured $60 million into Cameraworld.com. (The other major investor is Technology Crossover Ventures, also of Palo Alto.)
Bhusri also happens to be an amateur wildlife photographer and a repeat customer. "I bought my first camera from them four years ago, and their staff were very helpful in explaining the pros and cons of the different models," he says. "I found it unique that their customer-service people were trained professionals."
Last summer, when Greylock was looking for a photography Web portal to back while casting an eye at a future initial public offering, Bhusri remembered Camera World. "I gave Alessandro a cold call," he recalls. "I said, 'I've been a customer for a while. Are you interested in outside capital to help the business?"
The infusion from Greylock was welcome. The cash, the executives say, will allow the company to move to an even larger physical site this year, add more products to the 7,000 items it currently offers, hire 20 more sales and support people, and keep the computer system shipshape. The marketing mix will remain roughly the same as it has been for years -- mailing out catalogs and advertising in photography publications, on the radio, on television, on the Web, and on outdoor billboards -- "but it will scale up," says vice-president of marketing Tom Steele.
The venture funding also frees Mina, the serial entrepreneur, to hatch another company. "Alessandro did a fantastic job of running the company, but his goal was never to run Camera World for the rest of his life," says Bhusri. "So he helped us look for a new CEO." Bhusri and Mina chose a man who had lots of experience with fast-growth and Internet companies: Terry Strom, who had been the CEO of Egghead Software and the marketing vice-president for Digital River Inc., a Minnesota service provider for E-commerce sites. (Bhusri is now chairman of the board, and Mulvey has moved to the president's office.) Mina, now living in Boston, is glad to let others grow the company. "Aneel, Terry, and Walt can take the company from an Internet start-up to an established E-commerce player," he says. "I can go back to what I do best -- finding good companies to invest in."
For his part, Bhusri is thrilled to be the rudder of a company that, as he says, "gets it." "If you look at what makes a Web site successful, most of it is logistics," he says. "Camera World had this figured out a long time ago. Why don't others? I honestly don't know the answer. These guys are rare. I think they can be the Dell of the camera business."
Bronwyn Fryer is a contributing writer for Inc. Technology.
Read about another Brave New Company in " The Metamorphosis"
