"We are all about facilitating linkages between companies, resource organizations, markets and communities." --Amy Borgstrom, executive director of ACEnet, which helps run the Public WebMarket.

The Internet provides many opportunities for the business world. If you want a site to increase sales for your business, there are many providers who are willing to help you for a price. However, if you are a small business you may not have the money or the technical expertise to set up a site of your own. The Public WebMarket is a non-profit organization designed to give these small businesses equal footing on the Internet. It focuses on small businesses from rural communities, which tend to be depressed economically. The Public WebMarket allows the owners of these small businesses to access a greater audience than they normally would have, thereby increasing their sales. This technique is designed to make money flow into these communities, instead of out.

Begun in October 1995, the Public WebMarket is employing strategies used by the Pike Place Public Market of Seattle. The strategies revolve around providing the consumer the opportunity to get to know the producer of the product, along with some of the producer's history and goals. To this end, the Public WebMarket provides a profile of each business that uses its services. This generates a community feel that is lacking in a normal shopping environment. The consumer becomes a part of the community in which the business operates.

The sense of community the Public WebMarket creates is enhanced by the existence of physical locations in which the businesses can communicate with each other. There is, for example, a kitchen incubator in Ohio that provides a conference room and retail space in addition to a real kitchen. This allows the businesses to work together. Another example is cited in an October 24th article of the Wall Street Journal; the article tells of the creation of "paw paw coladas," a creation due to two food companies working side-by-side.

Other services the Public WebMarket provides include video-conferencing and web-conferencing capabilities and workshops about how to use the Internet effectively. The WebMarket has also been involved in the negotiation of credit loans for new business, sometimes making the loan itself.

In addition to the sense of community the Public WebMarket has created, there are more tangible benefits. The revenue generated for the new businesses is comparable to that generated by catalog marketing. There have been over a half million hits in the first year, with sales made in .6% of those visits. An unexpected benefit is the wholesaler aspect; one business was contacted by Ricoh cameras about wooden camera boxes. Another has received an order for 700 new child-sized beach chairs. The exposure received demonstrates a possibility for larger sales than originally anticipated.

The Public WebMarket, then, provides a sense of community between businesses who have the opportunity to communicate and to share ideas. The consumer has the opportunity to get to know something about the businesses they patronize and can e-mail them if he or she wants more information. The consumers will also begin to be able to participate with the producers in generating new product ideas based on the consumers' needs.