Web gateway to world market.

Manufacturer finds success exporting via the Net

For Bill Schorse and Andre Leblanc, paddling is an obsession.

As manufacturers and repairers of high-quality handcrafted canoes, the idea of cutting corners to put out a product they themselves would not be proud to own is almost unfathomable.

And evidently their customers, many of whom but their product through the Web and over their 1-800 line, feel the same way.

Since developing an online presence six years ago, North Bay Canoe and Kayak Co. has transformed itself from the neighbourhood hobby business bill and Nona Schorse began more than two decades ago into a five-employee outfit that exports canoes, paddles and other accessories to more than 20 countries.

"The Web really is our storefront to the world," says Leblanc, a business partner at their Corbeil shop, just eat of North Bay on Highway 17. "It's like 200 new people visiting out store every day."

"Being in Northern Ontario with a seasonal product, what the Web does for us is it extends our season because people in the southern U.S. or the Far East or Wherever, they're paddling year-round or they're rebuilding canoes, and we're always selling them products for restoration," Leblanc says.

Cedar canvas canoes are the mainstay of the business, but their product line has expanded over the years to include dozens of models of canoes and kayaks.

Years before, as the photographic director for the local television station and an avid paddler, Schorse could never find a canoe with the proper handling characteristics. So he began researching the traditional building techniques and set about constructing his own moulds.

"I also perceived a real need in the retail market for repairs and building supplies for canoes, and the business just seemed to grow from there," explains Schorse, who went from working out of his two-car garage on Campbell Avenue in North-Bay, to moving a few years later to the present location in Corbeil. ""t was really just an overgrown hobby."

They now sell about 120 canoes annually.

Their introduction to the Internet began in 1996 through a pilot program called the Business Adjustment Service, a now-defunct program funded by Human Resources Development Canada and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The Web site development program provided small companies like North Bay Canoe with the financial support to take their first baby steps in becoming an online business.

Nona Schorse taught herself HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Web publishing, and they launched their site. Expectations were modest. As internet novices, they really were not expecting huge e-commerce returns.

But over time, through the magic of search engines and word of mouth through chart rooms, a larger-world of canoe-paddling fanatics electronically appeared on their doorsteps.

"It was nothing big at first," says Schorse. "They'd order a video or book, some repair stuff, but gradually it build up. It was almost a test to see what you're doing. The book or the paddle would get out to them right away, and the next thing we know we've got a call from them, and it's a higher priced item."

Now canoes, paddles, fasteners, epoxy, caning materials for seats, even Schorse's own do-it-yourself repair videos are regularly being shipped out to Brazil, Greenland, France, Norway, Grand Bahamas, Indonesia and most destinations in the United States.

Their first dealer from Minnesota even came on board via the Internet after viewing the product.

"He saw the product, e-mailed, took a leap of faith and ordered ten canoes and a trailer to transport them, all based on what he saw on the Web Site," says Leblanc. "The Web site is unquestionably one of the best advertising tools there is."

He says about 15 percent of their sales are Web-based, a figure that is growing constantly.

"We provide the information they need, and more people now feel comfortable making a decision over the Internet, and that's why sales are improving," Leblanc says.

To move product out, they rely heavily on a logistics broker who finds extra space on a transport truck or aboard a container ship for a 17-foot canoe or a paddle heading to whatever far-flung destination they are shipping to.

"We give him the general specifications and the destination and he goes out and gets the best price," says Leblanc. "It's a great time saver so we can concentrate on the canoe construction."

While Schorse will always be identified as the mind and hands behind North Bay Canoe, slowly he is removing himself from the scene. Now in his 60s, he is turning the business over to his 60s, he is turning the business over to his partner, Leblanc, who he has been grooming for the last four years.

Though there are few canoe manufacturers building authentic cedar canvas canoes, both say the business could not survive on a niche product alone, so they bill themselves as a full-service sales and repair shop.

The company's future plans are to fully explore the white-hot kayak market as a dealer and full services supplier.