News of Norway, issue 1, 1999
Customers visiting NorHouse at www.norhouse.com can browse handmade glassware at Kine's Studio, pewterware at Havstad Pewter, Norwegian sweaters at Vigdis Design, buy books at Orion of Norway, find souvenirs at Briksdal or get financial services at Euronordic. Food is also available through a temporary food link.
A common trait for all the merchants is that they are relatively small businesses who sell high quality, 100 percent Norwegian items.
Briksdal, the latest addition to the site, is a business located at the Briksdal glacier. Through the Internet, the store can now reach far beyond its icy surroundings. What is so great about e-shopping is that the businesses don't have to be huge in order to be competitive, Syversen explained.
A requirement in order for NorHouse to enter into an agreement with a business is that the items are actually made in Norway, said Syversen, who is also one of NorHouse's three founders and a primary owner. In these stores, customers will not find any Norwegian items with "Made in China" stickers stuck to them. NorHouse is organized much like a mall.
"We rent out space to the businesses," Syversen said. "Our role is much like that of a mall management."
In addition to renting out space to the businesses, charging them per megabyte the stores take up on the server, revenue for NorHouse comes from percentages of the sales.
So far nobody has made any money on this venture, but Syversen is optimistic and realistic.
"It takes time to get used to having a business on the Internet," he said. The businesses don't realize the possibilities and that it is just as alive as a regular store." NorHouse will help the businesses set up their store on-line, and if needed, NorHouse can also help the stores with continual updates.
Syversen said that it is an advantage if the owners can update their on-line stores themselves because by the touch of a button, over a cup of tea at night, changes can be made to the store.
He stressed the importance of keeping everything up to date. To handle the design and on-line updates, NorHouse has hired outside help.
NorHouse is currently the only e-store with a Scandinavian twist on the U.S. market. A couple of other ventures have come and gone.
The mall concept is part of what makes NorHouse different from other Scandinavian e-shopping attempts. Previous sites have had more of a shopping profile. By using the Mall concept, NorHouse is trying to recreate the mall as a gathering place. In order to achieve this, NorHouse has tried to create a site that in addition to commercial merchandise has informational material, information links and a commercial free environment.
Web statistics show that many of NorHouse visitors browse the pages available to them. The customers shopping for information can now browse the new skiing page, featuring the father of skiing, Sondre Norheim.
When customers want to shop at NorHouse, they have to register. This is free of charge and enables the customer to create his or her own shopping basket. NorHouse has about 40,000 hits per week and 3,500-4,000 users.
When customers buy items from the on-line stores, the orders go to NorHouse's offices in Rockville, Md. NorHouse has an office in Oslo, as well, and altogether the business has three part-time and five full time employees.
After processing the orders, NorHouse orders the merchandise from Norway. NorHouse has no warehouse facilities, which according to Syversen saves the customers money.
The respective stores send the ordered items in the mail via Frankfurt where US Mail picks it up from the Norwegian Postal Service. The packages clear customs in Miami, Fla. From there, they are shipped directly to the customer.
The mailing takes about 5 days, but the delivery time is two to three weeks because of production time. Certain items are hand made, and customer preferences can also add on to the production time.
Currently, the cost of shipping for each purchase is approximately $15. This may change in the future, according to Syversen.
If there are duties on the package, that cost has to be picked up by the customers. The duties depend on the value of the package. There is also a duty on certain metals. This doesn't happen very often, though, Syversen said.
Shipping across the Atlantic is another reason why the products sold at NorHouse need to be of the very best quality. "We need to have high quality products so everything isn't exchanged," Syversen said.
The products sold at NorHouse are of high quality, which is reflected in the prices. As a response to customers' requests for a few less expensive items, NorHouse recently opened a Special Offer store that sells a custom made T-shirt, socks and a few other gift items.
The company has targeted three segments of the American market: Norwegians and born-again Norwegians, Norwegian companies and people who work there, and Americans with an interest in international shopping.
Syversen and NorHouse's stock holders have realistic expectations of their endeavor; they know it will take time and money to make Norhouse a success.
They have entered into two-year agreement with the Norwegian Trade Council's San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices, who will assist NorHouse in targeting prospective businesses in Norway and mapping the U.S. market.
In a couple of years, the group is also looking to expand the market to a European NorHouse store with headquarters in London. So the group is thinking ahead, and NorHouse and its believers are in it for the long run.
"Our motto is to use little money and a lot of time," Syversen said.
Information
You can find NorHouse at www.norhouse.com