Tina and Jeff Styron: Pioneering Internet Seafood Distribution.

"Opening one of our packages is like getting seafood from Neiman Marcus." - Tina Styron     Down East Information Services, Inc.

GourmetSeas.com: NC Seafood Hits the World Wide Web

It had to happen eventually. The Internet seems to be a cultural obsession for Americans and one Eastern Carolina family is hoping to turn years of experience in the wholesale seafood market a dot-com dream come true.

Jeff and Tina Styron, owners of GourmetSeas.com, are pioneers in the Internet seafood retailing business. And people across America are buying their wears.

But what exactly are they selling and how can they do it over the Internet? We sat down with the Styrons to get the inside scoop on GourmetSeas.com

Tradewinds: Will people across America really buy seafood over the Internet?

Tina: It appears so. We had a pretty busy December but I was really worried that, come January, it would come to a screeching halt. But, luckily, that hasn't happened.

Jeff: Just the other day we got an order from a lady in Chicago, Illinois.

Tina: And to see sales in January, when everything is slow, is really encouraging.

Tradewinds: How did you go about starting a retail E-business like this?

Tina: We came up with the idea after seeing so many upscale products sold through catalogs over the years. And now with the Internet boon, people seem to be more confident about buying products that have to be delivered. I have been a catalogue shopper for years and Jeff and I felt that this would be something we could leave our two little girls. Jeff works for the family business, Garland Fulcher Seafood. Working in a fish house can sometimes be a rough and tumble business. We couldn't imagine our little girls there. They may want to be there one day, I don't know but we thought it would be a great move for us.

Jeff: We built the site in December 1999 and we went Online in June 2000. Jack Moore, of Pamlico County, set up the E-commerce for the wholesale business [Garland Fulcher Seafood]. We know him and he's local, so he was naturally our first choice when we got the idea for GourmetSeas.com .

Tradewinds: Do the two of you ever fantasize about becoming dot-com billionaires?

Jeff: Oh, sure. We were talking the other day about the TV commercial where the guys put up the Website and it gets so many hits their computers can't handle it. That would be a great problem to have. But seriously, it's just like any other business, you have to do advertising and you have to do it in the right places.

Tina: You can't just advertise on the Web either. You have to be keep your marketing plans consistent with traditional advertising. We try to place print ads in the right magazines in addition to Internet advertising. We even have a billboard at New Bern Airport.

Tradewinds: After looking at your site I'd say that you're bringing new meaning to value added seafood products.

Tina: We've worked hard to make everything as good as it can possibly be.

Jeff: We always have the freshest seafood, Mahi is usually caught the day we fill an order and crabmeat is fresh picked that day. We're really lucky because we know so many wholesalers.

Tina: But a lot of the value we provide to our customers comes in items that are complimentary to the seafood. For example, our She Crab Soup. That was an incredibly popular item this year, around Christmas we sold totally out of it. And opening one of our packages is like getting seafood from Neiman Marcus. I've been a catalogue shopper for years. I've had some really great experiences catalogue shopping and I've had some not so good experiences. I think taking into account what we've learned over the years sets us apart from other retailers.

We're really proud of our packaging. We feel really confident that our seafood can stay cold for as much as three days. Most of what we sell is shipped raw in a special insulated container, she crab is steamed but scallops and everything else is raw. Keeping the product fresh was one of our first hurtles. And the longer it stays fresh the better. Although we offer next day air service on all our products I don't think anyone has taken advantage of it yet. The price difference between overnight and two-day shipping is significant.

Jeff: So far everyone's gotten their seafood fresh. (Shifty eye, shifty eye.) Actually, just before Christmas UPS lost one shipment. That's not too bad. And, of course, we made it up to her.