Business : Deal between Clickstop, Urbana; e-commerce business to build new facility

Recessive times have a circular effect on consumers and businesses alike. Yet despite the economic headwinds of the past three years, Clickstop continues to drive revenue growth even as eCommerce sales trended down in 2009 for the first time on record. Clickstop's growth has stimulated the company to make capital investments designed to support its rising sales volumes into the next decade.

  Looking over a particular stretch of land off Highway 150 in Urbana near I-380, you won't see much today. But the Blue Creek Industrial Park has been more than a gleam in the eyes of some residents, business owners, developers, and city officials for almost a year now. They're ready to jump-start a project primed to stimulate local economic growth and boost the eCommerce company's capabilities.   Clickstop, Inc. owners Tim Guenther and Shaun Linderbaum are excited. Their new office building and warehouse marks a milestone for the young company formed on sweat equity and a shoestring in 2005. Now with 25 employees, Clickstop staff grew 100% in 2009. Five of an anticipated 10 new hires for 2010 have joined the company during Q1 alone.   "This new facility has been planned with near and long-term business growth objectives in mind. The property provides us with scalability for expansion without taxing resources prematurely," says Guenther. "Our operations and facility leaders have spent a lot of time evaluating other companies with warehouse and fulfillment components in their business model. We plan to build on our established position as a customer-conscious e-retailer. That means we'll bake in a well-researched physical layout to help gain even greater efficiencies in merchandise warehousing and fulfillment. Our accuracy and speed metrics will become more stringent because we'll have the means to hold ourselves to an even higher standard."   Product quality, selection, top-notch customer service, and fulfillment speed and accuracy are Clickstop's building blocks. For persons who prefer shopping online, successfully delivering against these criteria can greatly influence satisfaction levels and repeat purchases leading to stronger customer lifetime value measurements.   Shaun Linderbaum spoke of the economic development elements at play. "We've enjoyed working with the Elwick family and the City of Urbana to frame up a mutually beneficial plan. Our business will complement the local community through added jobs and we can help attract new tenants to the industrial park. In turn, Clickstop will benefit from a good work force base which will help propel us to our goal of employer of choice in Benton County."   The new Clickstop facility is slated to open January 2011 with a combined office and warehouse footprint of 35,500 sq. ft. Presently, the city is finalizing the civil engineering drawings which will be followed by road construction in June. Building construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in July.     ###   About Clickstop, Inc. Clickstop is a multi-brand, multi-channel merchant operating in several specialty categories. Our goal is to grow sales and improve margins for our brands through strategic application of inbound marketing techniques.   We strive to consistently deliver superior customer experience through service, product quality, selection, and value. Our business model allows us to reach thousands of customers every day through our Web site properties and customer service center.   Find Clickstop on Facebook or follow @clickstop on Twitter where we are building a community of members interested in SEO, PPC, conversion, and E-commerce topics.