New Canaan Businesses Open Ecommerce Channels: ‘We Live in a World Now Where Everything Is Online’

Elm Street fixture Pennyweights offers an in-store experience that’s typical of New Canaan merchants—locally owned, the jewelry shop’s owners are on site, accompanied by a friendly, knowledgeable staff in a clean, roomy, newly renovated space that customers enjoy.

Ridgefield’s Kelly Sigg owns Pennyweights on Elm Street with her husband Geoff, a 1986 New Canaan High School graduate. The pair got out ahead of the ecommerce wave by creating their own online shopping options seven years ago. Credit: Michael Dinan

Even with those strong elements, co-owners Kelly and Geoff Sigg of Ridgefield (he a 1986 New Canaan High School graduate) about eight years ago built an ecommerce component to their website, developed and managed entirely in-house, that includes photos of merchandise, shipping and fulfillment.

Online sales spike around Christmas and Mother’s Day, Kelly Sigg said, and it often complements the in-store experience, since most of Pennyweights’ ecommerce shoppers have been to the shop already.

Asked about the importance of ecommerce for Pennyweights, she said: “I think today it’s very important just to get your name out to people. You can reach more people and they can find you, so you’re also reaching new people in different areas that you wouldn’t have reached before. I think in this day and age, you need to have one.”

The Siggs form part of the rising tide among local business owners who are harnessing the power of the Internet to diversify offerings, reach new people, maintain relationships with loyal customers when they move away and accommodate an increasing number of online shoppers who expect stores to have a Web presence.

The chocolate-covered pretzels are some of the most popular items at The Candy Scoop. Credit: Michael Dinan

For Megan Palladino of The Candy Scoop across the street (herself a 2009 NCHS grad), it’s not so much a question of whether to build out an ecommerce component to the website, but when.

“We live in a world now where everything is online, so we feel that we should be too if we have the opportunity to be,” Palladino said. “We only see pros, not cons.”

Pallidino, who owns The Candy Scoop with sister Lauren, lists reaching a wider range of people and making shopping convenient for them as the main reasons for targeting ecommerce. The sisters are in the process of figuring out the best provider and software for them.

“The hardest part is actually on our end, in deciding what we want to feature on the website,” she said. “As a candy store, we have so many options, it’s difficult to narrow it down—What is the best? What can we do for now?—especially when we are adding seasonal items, it’s a lot to consider.”

Phil Williams (left) pretends to play a chocolate guitar for friend and co-worker Dan Fiore (right) inside of New Canaan Music. Credit: Alex Hutchins

Next door, Phil Williams at New Canaan Music said he’s looking at ecommerce as an additional revenue and distribution stream. Once it’s set up, the cost of operating the ecommerce site is minimal, since it’s largely self-service, Williams said, and he’s looking into a “turnkey” service that will put New Canaan Music in line with national standardized pricing for his merchandise.

Asked about how the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce views ecommerce, the organization’s executive director, Tucker Murphy, noted that New Canaan is unique in that it’s a major draw for in-person shopping.

Heidi Burrows of New Canaan Olive Oil helps a customer. Credit: Terry Dinan

“I love the fact that New Canaan still is a destination for antiques, for arts, for collectibles, for galleries and even a wonderful consignment store—that people still come here to New Canaan for that type of experience and product,” Murphy said.

Heidi Burrows, who studied business in college and owns New Canaan Olive Oil on Elm Street (as well as a second shop that opened last month down at The Westchester mall in White Plains, N.Y.), said she opened her New Canaan store with an ecommerce component.

Built into the website, New Canaan Olive Oil’s service is offered through her domain and Web hosting provider, GoDaddy, which takes a flat monthly fee that New Canaan Olive Oil covers during the spring and summer and then it boosts sales during the holidays, Burrows said.

“During the holidays it was more convenient for people to just go online and order a gift basket rather than come in with all the craziness of other shoppers,” she said.