Small Firms Find Success Online, Too – Business Models Work For Local Companies

A skeptic might call it a business idea doomed to fail: Take advantage of the Internet age by lending a monthly stack of books to customers who place their orders online, and charge a fee for the service.

That may sound like a market that libraries have covered, but a Vienna-based company called BooksFree.com Inc. has found a way to get in on it. It will never be a Fortune 500 company, but the small firm has loyal customers and is providing steady employment for its 14 workers.

The implosions of thousands of Web retailers compounded by the rise of Internet giants like Amazon.com Inc. and Overstock.com Inc. could suggest there is no room online for the little guys. Success stories of eBay merchants abound, of course, but less heralded are the local tales of companies like BooksFree.com and District-based firms Gratis Internet LLC and Varsity Group Inc., which found sustainable business models offering goods through their own sites.

By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/17/AR2005081702043.html