Carole Holding, one of Bermuda's best-known artists, yesterday became one of the Island's first retailers to launch a fully interactive website, www.caroleholding.com.

The site allows customers to order matted and framed Bermuda art, crafts, Bermuda gifts and preserves on line and in real time, using a secure shopping cart. The site is secured with a Thawte digital certificate using 128bit encryption which is the accepted standard on the Internet for securing credit card transactions.

In addition, the site offers free shipping throughout the Continental USA on many items as well as a worldwide parcel service from Bermuda for artwork.

Mrs. Holding said: "Many of our online customers were wary of divulging their credit card number over the telephone or via email so we wanted to develop our site to allow for secure purchasing. We've also been able to add framed artwork as an option as well as shipping around the world. It is the only way to go."

The Renee Webb, Minister for Tourism, Telecommunications and Ecommerce, said: "I congratulate Carole on becoming a true ebusiness. In today's sophisticated environment, customers want to know that their transactions are secure and safe. We are actively encouraging other local retailers to develop secure transactional websites so that people around the world can buy Bermuda products with the security of knowing that their credit card data is secure. This will further enhance our island as a committed ebusiness destination."

Carole Holding created her website in 1998, but has only recently added a secure site capacity for credit cards.

The site was re-designed and built by David Hill of Storm Design along with a Bermudian technology partner to implement the technical aspects of the shopping cart and site security. The two worked alongside Ms. Holding for six months to develop the site and get it operational. David Hill of Storm Design said: "Shipping charges were a major concern when setting up the site as prices vary from country to country and shipping costs can fluctuate depending on the way items are packaged. The major challenge was calculating the different shipping costs for the different shipping services offered but we are happy to have completed this in order to offer a truly interactive website.

"Carole also required a fully functional shopping cart on her website which could accept credit cards in a secure manner. We worked closely with Carole to understand the various combinations of watercolour prints, framed items, jams, cutting boards and the wide range of products offered on the website before building it. The Carole Holding project was a perfect fit."

Ms Holding plans to add to her online range of products over the coming months.