Information highway path to new market.

• Author: Wareing, Andrew
• Position: Special Report: Exporting - J & S Engraving sells its engraved corporate gifts online

A small Timmins company is trying to make a big splash online to increase export opportunities.

J & S Engraving, owned and operated by Mark and Kathleen Wixson, produces engraved corporate gifts, awards and name badges and began as a hobby 15 years ago by Mark's father Jack.

"I came in about eight years ago and started to work with my father and, a year later, took over the business," Mark Wixson says. "We moved from a backyard Location to a small mall setting...a few years ago; we hired a couple of people full time, but it was too hard on the profit margin so we just went to myself and my wife.

"Overhead has been our biggest challenge," adds Wixson. "It's why we recently moved to a smaller location. And, like most small businesses, it's hard to get financing. The banks say they're trying to help out the smaller guys, but I think that's more public relations than practical application."

When Wixson first started with the, company, the Internet was just coming into its own as a marketing tool, but Wixson. admits he has always had an interest in online marketing applications.

Over the years, he has developed a couple of Web sites for the company with varying degrees of success.

"I had a friend in the business of Web design and I had him make up an e-commerce site," says Wixson. "People could place orders and make payments right online. We had a couple of years with little success. I started looking into why it wasn't working."

Wixson says he purchased a commercially available Web design program and set about to redesign the company's Web site. He took out several features, including the online ordering and payment options and added a 1-866 number to the company.

That was four years ago and since then, business has increased by about 10 per cent and orders have been coming in from across Ontario, across Canada and the United...