So far as the billiard supply business goes, in many cases, the combination of computer expertise and a billiards sales business is rare. Many billiards sales web sites are lacking, that is for sure! You've got your people who are good at computers. You've got your people who are good at billiards. Rarely both.
1. Be the "Home Depot" of billiard sales. It is amazing what many local retail billiard sales businesses *don't* carry. To my knowledge, not one local billiard sales business in my area sells Moori tips. One company only sells one brand of tip! It is also amazing what the on-line billiard sales companies don't carry. A small sample of what they don't carry...
-All hardnesses of Moori tips
-Tiger break/jump tips.
-Other break/jump tips
-Phenolic tips
-"Quick Tip" dime and nickel shaping tools - Manufacturer -
http://www.excel.net/~mniver
-Many cue manufacturers offer all sorts of options. Tip brand, tip hardness, shaft size, pro or euro taper, joint, wrap, rings, colors of wrap, length, and weight. But most on-line cue sales companies *only* offer a choice of weight.
This company is on the right track. Look at all the options they offer...
http://www.billiardwarehouse.com/cues/viking/viking_f00_pool_cue.htm
In short, I need to go here to buy this, there to buy that. Sometimes only one web site carries a specific item.
2. Books/Videos. There are all sorts of new books/videos available on billiards. But no one carries them all! Go ahead and try to find these books/videos...
-Racking Secrets
-Pool Table Sales and Service
-The secret of aiming
-Aiming on the Cutting Edge
-Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards
-Bet High and Kiss Low
-The Green Book - Pool Table Maintenance Manual
-Buddy Hall's Clock System video
-Grady Mathews' Secrets of Money Pool video
-Kid Delicious Gambling Secrets
etc.
I've got to go to many different web sites if I want to purchase the above books/videos. It would be nice if one web site carried everything!
3. Used and out of print books. There are all sorts of used and out of print books on billiards circulating around, sold on ebay and at rare book stores. How about a billiard supply company which also purchases used, rare, and out of print billiard books and offers them for sale - one stop shopping! The following regular book store business buys and sells used books ,and also sells new books - they do a BIG business in this area...
http://www.powells.com
Their book buying page...
http://www.powells.com/info/buying.html
4. Customer service tracking number. For a person skilled at computers and web sites, it is easy to let a customer know when their order was shipped and give them a tracking number. Then they can be home when UPS delivers the package or arrange for someone else to be there. Yet many billiards web sites don't tell you when they have shipped nor do they give you a tracking number. The best ones let you know when it was shipped. If something is on back order, they tell you when to expect it approximately, then tell you it was shipped and give you a tracking number in an email which you can click on and go right to UPS/FedEx/USPS. The good sites also can calculate on-line, the shipping cost and will offer several different choices and prices.
5. Charge card names. Many sites will ask for your first and last name, then the charge card does not go through because they did not ask for the middle initial. The better sites ask for shipping info, then ask for the exact name as it appears on the charge card when you get to that point.
6. Charge card expiration date. On my charge card it is in the format 02-09, yet some web sites just offer a selection of Jan, Feb, Mar, etc. The better sites offer as a selection: Jan (01), Feb(02), Mar(03).
I don't think the people who design some of these web sites ever try to use them. Following is an excellent web site as an example...
http://www.scalesgalore.com
Note: An excellent web hosting company is
http://www.pair.com Fast, has own forum for technical questions (a lot of web site techies hang out here), Ecommerce friendly, can even have your own dedicated server(s) which they maintain, etc.