WisBusiness: Flying Cart helps small businesses soar to new heights in cyberspace

By Amanda Jutrzonka

For WisBusiness.com

MADISON – “To help small businesses be amazing online.” This is the mindset driving the success of Flying Cart LLC, according to Rishi Shah, the founder of this Madison-based company.

Flying Cart, a subscription-based web application, assists online sellers and stores by providing personalized customer service and business support to companies interested in starting or improving their online sales.

Specific services the company provides include credit card processing, management of administrative responsibilities, and tips and tools for successful online marketing. Flying Cart serves more than 6,000 small- and medium-sized companies and more than 30 percent of Flying Cart’s customers are gained through referrals.

Flying Cart has a wide variety of customers, including Lynette Zanardi, founder and owner of Sassy Couture, an online retail venue that sells trendy and glamorous accessories for women and kids. “Flying Cart has made my online retail business simple,” Zanardi said. “Their website is very do-it-yourself user friendly. It is set up to make it easy to list your retail items online.”

One of the obstacles Flying Cart faces is helping customers get over their fear of selling their products/services online.

“Small businesses think like small businesses. Our goal is to help small businesses think like big businesses and survive by going online, but a lot of small business owners have an inborn fear of being online,” said Shah.

When Flying Cart was formed in 2005, the company already had 400 customers signed. The company started with a simple one-page website then worked endlessly to catch the eye of media outlets and frequented blogs. Shah recommends the same strategies he used to start Flying Cart to help his customers succeed online.

Major competitors include eBay and Yahoo! Stores. However, Flying Cart has grown by providing more personalized service and customizable options at a fixed monthly fee.

According to Shah, Flying Cart’s differentiating factor is simple: “We make our customers money.”

In 2009, Flying Cart plans to host several educational seminars with a focus on e-commerce. The nationwide educational initiative will consist of informal workshops that will provide local entrepreneurs with tips on how to succeed in today’s increasingly web-based world.

The company has already held seminars in Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Madison and Milwaukee. More than 1,000 people have encountered these classes. The company plans to hold more than fifty classes this year alone, and already, by the second week of March 2009, has completed 12.

The business plan Flying Cart is using for the Governor’s Business Plan Contest focuses on these seminars and scaling the process out over three years. The goal is to have small classes in as many cities as possible.

Flying Cart is one of 21 companies selected to advance in the 2009 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The company, selected from a total of 326 first-round entries, is now competing in the contest’s third phase.

— Jutrzonka is a student in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the UW-Madison.