Not long ago, "e-commerce" was a tarnished word. But thanks to Fry, Inc., which has offices in Chicago, it's looking downright
shiny again. Founder David Fry talks about chocolate, acceleration, and
becoming legendary.
How did Fry get started?
Fry, Inc. began in 1994 as a division of a large printing firm, Fry
Communications. The original intent was to bring the capabilities of the
newest media at the time, such as CD-ROMs, to customers. These plans
coincided with very early enthusiasm for the Internet. We were working
with Godiva Chocolatier at that time to explore how they could use new
types of media to help them sell their products. We noticed that people
who loved chocolate and Godiva in particular, were actively
communicating this passion via discussion groups on the Internet. We
began to talk about the possibility of selling to these people through
the Web. That started Fry's experience with online retailing.
What got you personally interested in doing this work?
I have been using the Internet since I started college in 1982. Of
course there was no World Wide Web back then but I used e-mail to
communicate with friends and colleagues. As I went through school and
started working towards my PhD, technology developed to offer online
newsgroups, real-time chat, FTP sites, gopher services, and, eventually,
the Web. By the early 1990s I had been personally steeped in this
culture for over 10 years and was excited at the prospect of bringing it
to a larger world than the relatively small academic audience that
currently exploited it. The Internet is one of those transformational
technologies that you wonder how you ever lived without.
Why do you feel there's a need for what you provide?
As use of the Internet for commerce has accelerated, both customers'
requirements and the process of fulfilling them has grown enormously
complex. Fry's expertise in transactional e-commerce is well
established, having evolved during our more than 10 years in business
serving some of the world's most recognized and trafficked Web sites. We
understand the process from beginning to end - from the importance of
design and user experience, through ensuring systems are effectively
integrated behind the scenes, to meeting the intense performance demands
of sites with our managed services offerings. Our core expertise is in
retail but today many other industries such as manufacturing and
financial services are using the Internet more effectively to build
relationships with their customers.
What makes your company unique?
Fry brings an unusual combination of creative, technical, and
operational talents to its projects. Fry does "everything it takes" to
design, build, and manage transactional Web sites. We work with our
customers to design a site that speaks specifically to their audience,
one that communicates their brand message in a clear and effective
fashion. We also do the heavy lifting to build a technically excellent
application that integrates with our customers' legacy infrastructure
that performs well under heavy loads, and provides the rigorous security
needed to provide ensure the user's privacy.
What do you like best about what you do?
I like to see the impact our industry is having on people's lives across
the country. This year, 40 million people will purchase holiday gifts
online, something that was unheard of ten years ago. This period in
history will be remembered for decades in the future and I'm glad we
could be part of it.
do you know a local company we should cover? Let us know about it.
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