At 21 years old, Jay Hannah is up to his neck in Internet marketing, and he loves it.
"I knew if we could get our system up and running it would provide a service of real value," says Hannah. "After many sleepless nights, and many experiments, we were running a successful auction on the Internet. Now we're gaining customers daily."
Hannah is president of the Global Shopping Club, an offshoot of General Service Computers Inc., a PC component distributor located in Yankton, S.D. Global Shopping Club is a "live auction," where bidders compete online for products ranging from computer components, to home electronics, to jewelry.
"We've got some customers who have two computers hooked up and use one to monitor the bids while with the other they're furiously hitting buttons to place new bids," Hannah adds. "We've created a site that provides a real service to people, whether they're a vendor or a bidder."
Once potential bidders have entered their information into the Global Shopping Club's database online, credit information is verified. After a message is sent back to the new bidder confirming their account information, they are cleared to bid on products on the auction.
Vendor registration works in much the same manner, Hannah explains. After the proper credentials check, a vendor enters a description of the merchandise they are placing on the auction, names a starting bid minimum and simply waits for a message that the item has been sold. Information will soon follow containing the details of the sale.
Though business for Global Shopping Club continues to grow rapidly, the cutting edge technology implemented in their system is efficient enough that operations are still managed by the original staff of three people: Hannah, president and chief operating officer, Brian Walton, assistant manager, and Holli Novak, receptionist.
Vendors decide what they need to include in their pricing for shipping and handling charges, and take care of the mailing of items to the winning bidder.
"What Global Shopping Club provides is an auction block, a place for vendors to bring the items they'd like to sell," Hannah said.
"For the bidders, it's a virtual store, where they have the option to browse, check prices and offer a price they feel is reasonable for a range of new and used products."
Global Shopping Club is located at www.gsci.com on the Internet.