When Wade Lawrence, assistant director of Drayton Hall, came to the organization in 1997, he immediately started making plans for a Web presence. "I realized there was a large market out there that we weren't reaching. We have about sixty thousand in-preson visitors each year; there were a lot more people out there that we could reach," says Wade. After discovering that none of the other area museums were developing Web sites, Wade decided to create one himself. He used a small amount of discretionary money to purchase software, register their domain name, and acquire a digital security certificate for a secure server. The initial set up came to just over $500, not including a $50 monthly Web hosting fee. By working with his wife (a graphic designer), Wade created an initial site for Drayton. Working weekends and nights, it took Wade four months to complete. Even so, he says, "it was actually fun." He enjoyed experimenting with the technology in support of Drayton Hall.

E-commerce has not been the main focus of Drayton Hall's Web site. Name recognition and reaching a larger audience have always been the organization's goals. However, from day one, the former museum shop manager had always wanted to go online. "She had her finger on the pulse before I got here," says Wade, "when I came on board, she saw it as a real opportunity to get the shop online." Together they researched shopping cart software, and decided to go with Netsville's Hazel, an inexpensive product recommended by their Web host company, Mindspring. "Hazel was flexible and full-featured, and it's worked very well for us." The digital certificate for the secure server was also purchased through Mindspring.

Wade spent some time customizing the software, learning as he went. In the meantime, the shop manager wrote copy for the products and made decisions about what would be available online. The shopping cart software they selected limits them to selling no more than 100 products at a given time. For another $200-$300, the software would allow an unlimited number of products. For now Wade feels that 100 items "is a good fit." Because their shopping cart software limits them to 100 items, Drayton Hall changes the items for sale on its site every three months to provide customers with a variety of products.

Drayton Hall doesn't produce a catalog, but does send out a holiday season mailer to promote gift items. The mailer is sent to Drayton Hall's 7,000 members as well as to former members and previous online customers. With a cost of about $1,500 for design, printing and postage, the inexpensive mailer has been a good advertisement for the site.

To set up the online shop, Wade needed to find or take photos of the items for sale. Wade did this on his nonexistent budget by using photos from their distributor's catalogue and taking photos with a digital camera. "You'll laugh, but a lot of the flat items, like books and some jewelry, I just laid them right on the scanner and then used PhotoShop to cut the background out and add a synthetic shadow... and there we have it!"

To date the new e-commerce system has not required Drayton Hall to hire additional staff. "The shopping cart we use saves the orders to a log file on a secure server," says Wade. "Every morning, a staff person checks the email to see if we have a new order, then they check the log file and download it securely." Once they receive the information, shop employees pack and ship the items to the customer, usually in the same day. "It works very well," says Wade, "The volume has been easy to handle. We sometimes have weeks with no orders, and some days we have 3 or 4 orders." Because the shop management staff has been in transition, Drayton Hall's financial coordinator is currently responsible for checking orders and notifying the shop. Once Drayton Hall has hired a new full time manager for the on-site museum shop, orders will be processed entirely within the shop.

Drayton Hall also allows e-commerce-wary customers to print out an order form from the Web site and fax it in with their credit card number. Wade says, "It's a feature of the shopping cart so we use it, but no one has ever faxed an order. For the most part, people seem comfortable about ordering online."

Just as a real-life store, an e-commerce site can only be successful if people come inside and buy. Publicizing the Web site as well as the physical store is key. Drayton Hall has made every effort to get their Web address out to potential and repeat visitors. "We also put out a paper bookmark and it says 'bookmark your new favorite Web site'" -- An idea they got from Stratford Hall, another historic site. "We hand those out with every in-store sale," says Wade. Drayton Hall also leaves the free bookmarks on the counter for visitors to take. Since the launch of the site, Wade has ensured that the Drayton Hall Web address is printed on every brochure, piece of letterhead, and business card as well as on all their promotional pieces in magazines and other publications. "People frequently call and ask for the Web address and staff members from the director on down know it off the top of their head." It has become second nature for staff to refer visitors and callers to the Web for more information.

Drayton Hall also makes memberships available online. For the most part, memberships are purchased on location at Drayton Hall. According to Wade, they've only sold about twelve memberships online in two years. "We tried offering gift memberships online but they haven't been as popular as we thought they would be. It might just be a matter of promotion." Wade plans to push online membership renewal with the release of the redesigned site. This will help the museum maintain memberships and handle address changes and renewals. Wade believes it is important to have a membership presence online. "For one thing, it tells people that we've got a lot of support from our members and that we depend on them. If nothing else, it gets that message out."

Shop sales account for 14% - 17% of Drayton Hall's annual revenue. Though online sales only account for a very small -- but growing -- portion, Drayton Hall's e-commerce project has been a true success. Because the system was implemented at such a low cost, it only took two months to pay for itself. "The way we look at it this is, it's not going to pay for our retirement or balance the budget," Wade says, "but it allows people who can. t come to Drayton Hall to become familiar with us and make purchases online." He adds, "Right now it is all gravy, because we have very little invested. Every sale is a sale that we wouldn't have had otherwise, and that we don't have to pay for."

Drayton Hall is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC, and reports to an advisory council. Although Drayton Hall is required to discuss plans and pitch ideas to the council, staff are not bound to the council's advice. The advisory council has been pleased with the Web site and the success of e-commerce. Drayton Hall staff, including the Director, have been on board from the very beginning. Wade also admits that this support is probably due to the fact that it was all done without requiring much additional staff time.

Very few of the twenty National Trust locations had Web sites when Drayton Hall launched theirs. Since then, National Trust headquarters has used Drayton's Web site as a model and has encouraged other National Trust sites to develop Web sites of their own. Wade was very involved in developing the Web guidelines that the other National Trust sites follow. "So now National Trust is revising their site and I am on the committee to help them decide what it should look like and what will be on it," says Wade. "Doing Drayton Hall's Web site on my own gave me experience. Headquarters now recognizes that and involves me in their decisions."

Drayton's Planned redesign includes a 360-degree panorama image of the physical gift shop. According to Wade, "Even if we can't offer everything online, at least people can see the range of things we do have. They can call us or email us and say 'I saw such and such in the picture, how can I get it?'" This is also a method of identifying the customers' interests and determining what other products they should be offering online.

For Wade and Drayton Hall, the Web site and e-commerce have been an exciting and rewarding project. Wade encourages small nonprofits to take on e-commerce. "It really isn't that difficult and it's fun," says Wade. Once the site is up and running and staff is comfortable maintaining it, "the Web is a very cost-effective way to promote your organization and solicit memberships."

Wade has no regrets, but can think of one thing he would do differently. "I think I would have investigated security certificates further, because the one that we use has some coding in it that causes some of the older browsers to get a warning," admits Wade. The warning says that the browser can't recognize the security certificate and although the site is secure, those using older browsers see the warning and may be scared away. "I probably would have gone with a pricier certificate just to get more universality out of it," concedes Wade.

Building your own e-commerce site from scratch is not really as easy as Wade makes it sound. He put a lot of hard work and his own time into the site. Though he recommends doing it all on your own if you can, he stresses that nonprofits "must make sure the staff members or volunteers helping to build the site are very involved in and familiar with the organization's work."

Staff involvement is also a major factor in the success of e-commerce or any Web project for that matter. "Involve the staff, continuously, so that they feel comfortable suggesting new directions, modifications or additions to the site." Some of the best ideas for Drayton Hall's site came from the staff. Wade says, "If you have to spend exorbitant amounts to get it up and running, it isn't worth while (for a small organization). But if you have the moxie and the drive to do it yourself, it can be very cost effective."

For more profiles of nonprofits using e-commerce, see:
E-commerce as Promotion: Perfect Storm Foundation
E-commerce in a Membership Organization: Film Arts Foundation

Last updated: 3 May 2001 mlw
www.benton.org/Practice/Ecommerce/draytonhall.html