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But there was more to getting Mrs. Beasley's online than designing the ideal interface. As Harris puts it, "You can't be at Internet speed when the order's on its way in and at a snail's pace on the way out." And even with the Internet, customers -- especially high-spending corporate customers -- expect to get somebody on the telephone instantly when they're having problems. So Harris invested an additional $100,000 in a faster, more powerful order-processing system. He moved customer service in-house, building a 175-station call center at the factory. And he invested $50,000 in software that tracks call volume, hold time, and the number of people who hang up before being served.

Then Harris whipped up deals with many well-known Web businesses. Visitors to 1-800-Flowers.com can buy Mrs. Beasley's products; the floral site gets an undisclosed cut of revenues. A similar arrangement gives Staples a share of the sales that Mrs. Beasley's makes through Staples.com. Web sites for auto clubs, alumni and trade associations, and other groups steer members to Mrs. Beasley's. There, the members receive a 15% discount. AOL, Barnes & Noble, and other companies offer Mrs. Beasley's products to their employees at a 15% discount through corporate intranets (with intranet-management businesses like Abilizer.com taking a 5% share of each sale). Such arrangements account for 22% of the company's overall sales, almost double the 13% handled directly through its own Web site. (Remaining revenues come from catalog, retail, and wholesale business.)

Mrs. Beasley's stays in touch not just with the people who have bought its gift baskets but also with those who have received them. Thanks largely to those follow-up efforts, such as E-mail marketing campaigns that cost less than $4 per 1,000 messages sent, about 8% of gift recipients later become customers.

All the company's E-commerce strategies paid off in the 1999 holiday season, when the company's sales reached $7 million, up 25% over 1998 revenues. Thirteen percent of the people who visited Mrsbeasleys.com spent money there. (At many sites, only 2% of visitors actually make a purchase, according to Forrester Research.) And although many online shoppers complained that other gift sites sent the wrong items or missed delivery dates last holiday season, Mrs. Beasley's claims that it delivered 99.8% of its orders correctly and on time.

Despite its astonishing first season online, Mrs. Beasley's stumbled a few times. Last year the company spent $30,000 for banner ads on the Blue Mountain Arts greeting-card site. "I think we made $923," Harris says wryly, referring to total sales from that campaign. Lesson learned: Don't pay for placement. These days Mrs. Beasley's sticks mostly to revenue-sharing agreements.

And then there are the brick-and-mortar shops. "I built four retail stores in '97 and '98. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have spent the capital," Harris says. That's because the return the company will get from those stores is nowhere near what it will get from the Internet. (Retail-store sales rose 15% this year, while Internet sales rose more than 1,000%.)

Meanwhile, out at Mrs. Beasley's 55,000-square-foot factory and warehouse in Carson, things are gearing up for a holiday season that could make last year's look like a dress rehearsal. An off-season staff of about 50 will swell to 350, working three shifts to bake, pack, and ship an almost unimaginable number of muffins, cookies, and brownies. During the slow summer months the company might make 100 lemon cakes daily. In November they increase output dramatically, "kicking out 3,000 cakes a day," says bakery director Jeff Beasley, who will hold the factory team to a rigid production schedule. "We plan the living hell out of it," Harris says. "In the month of December, it all pays off."

Anne Stuart is a senior writer at Inc. Technology.

Mrs. B's Secret Recipe

For a company with less than $20 million in revenues, Mrs. Beasley's has paired up with some pretty major partners. Here's a sampling of Mrs. B's deals:

Revenue sharing with 1-800-Flowers.com. The online florist promotes Mrs. Beasley's products in exchange for an undisclosed percentage of sales made through its site. Average monthly sales January through September: $81,000; average monthly holiday sales: $250,000.

Revenue sharing with Staples.com. In exchange for an undisclosed percentage of sales, the office-supply company will promote Mrs. Beasley's sweets through E-mail to one million of its customers and will offer Mrs. B's pastries on its site. CEO Ken Harris expects sales from the deal (which at press time was planned to begin this month) to exceed those from the 1-800-Flowers.com promotion.

Discounts for AAA members. Mrs. Beasley's offers members of regional AAA clubs a 15% discount for purchases made in stores, by phone, or online. What does AAA get out of the deal? "Zilch," says Ken Harris. "At least financially. It's another benefit for them to offer members." Average monthly sales January through September: $9,300; average monthly holiday sales: $40,000.

Gift for Canon/Best Buy customers. During a holiday promotion, Best Buy customers who bought Canon printers and $50 in supplies got certificates for a free Mrs. Beasley's basket. Mrs. Beasley's, which charged Canon and Best Buy wholesale rates, fulfilled the orders. Overall sales: $533,000.

Discounts on corporate intranets. Mrs. Beasley's partners with companies that run employee-benefits intranets at AOL, McDonald's, Raytheon, and many other large companies. Employees receive a 15% discount on Mrs. Beasley's products that they order from the intranets, while the intranet developers take 5% of sales made through their sites. Average monthly sales: $10,000.

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