Butterfield and Vallis is touting the Internet as a key area for business expansion after its www.Ez2.bm website exceeded sales expectations during its first Christmas season.

The company has now announced a revamp of the site to make it more user friendly for customers.

Butterfield & Vallis ? which most people know as a wholesale food importer ? launched Ez2.bm last April. President and general manager of the Food Services Division of Butterfield and Vallis Alun Hughes said that despite his company?s grocery background its logistics as an importer made it ideal to branch out to sell other goods to shoppers frustrated by availability, value and service on the Island.

The site offers what Mr. Hughes terms an ?intriguing mix of products? that is ?non-branded generic?.

?You will see things from kayaks to remote control jeeps to plasma televisions,? he said.

?The idea is you can see products that we can source very quickly using our logistics expertise so you can order it on Tuesday of week one and our plan is that the product is now available for pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday of week two.?

On Friday, the counter at the eight-month old website registered more than 17,000 hits. Mr. Hughes thinks it is hardly surprising that local shoppers are so keen to turn to the site since computer and Internet penetration is so high here.

A report commissioned by Government earlier this year showed that of Bermuda?s companies, 95 percent have email with Internet access, an increase of three percent over those surveyed in 2002.

A survey by the World Economic Forum released this year also found high penetration of computers in Bermuda homes. According to its 2002 statistics, the Island placed number ten in the world for personal computerownership, with 49 percent of us owning personal computers.

Mr. Hughes adds however that the trend towards online shopping is worldwide.

?It is unusual when this country doesn?t follow significant market trends and certainly the trend in the US at the moment is people are comfortable ordering product online and it then being received. A few years ago it was still a little mysterious.?

Although no such shopping statistics exist in Bermuda, Statistics Canada 2003 Household Internet Use Survey found that in 2003 Canadian households spent just over $3 billion on the Internet, buying everything to plane tickets to books. Canadian households placed a total of 21.1 million orders in 2003 up from 16.6 million the previous year. The $3 billion in orders represents a 25 percent increase from the $2.4 billion spent online in 2002.

Research this month by VeriSign, a provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications network in North America, found that during the week of December 13, the total volume of online sales transactions reached 28.3 million, a 25 percent increase over the equivalent shopping week in 2003.

The company?s statistics are based on the analysis of online sales volume processed through VeriSign Payment Services which comprises more than 35 percent of all North American e-commerce and represents in excess of 120,000 online retailers.

?Time is so precious and it gives you the ability to research what you may want to purchase at a time that suits you,? said Mr. Hughes.

?Which, obviously, can be outside standard shopping hours, so you can research during your lunch hour without having to go the physical location, you can research at home and in the evening.?

?The niche we are trying to develop is to say we can bring in the products for you using our freight logistics and by virtue of that offer at least equivalent value of you buying and sourcing it yourself from the US and then adding the freight forwarding product in,? Mr. Hughes said.

He adds that if the transaction is administered electronically, the burden of inventory and the burden of shop front rental is reduced.

?We look to buy very efficiently and then push that product through to Bermuda by highlighting it on the web because we know that those values at that moment are the best you can possibly get from the eastern seaboard and in many cases we can even land and sell cheaper than major chains in the US.

?Hopefully that will alleviate the requirement/need for locals to shop overseas and then bring the goods back which again is a rising trend.

?All the statistics are showing that Bermudans like to go overseas and take advantage of the excellent values that can be out there.

?We are taking the view that we want to try to bring that to the Island rather than the Island going to get it.?

The revamped Ez2 site will be similar to an amazon.com and include full specifications of all products, links to manufacturers sites, improved visuals and the ability to purchase at the point of browsing.

The company has also appointed a senior member of staff to run the Internet business and is also investigating ways to provide a facility for customers to see demonstrations of the product.