Novel Internet company plans to spur local e-commerce

October 9 - 22, 2000 Issue 

By Bill Perry

Staff Writer

 

The Lowcountry’s newest entry into the Internet services and e-commerce sweepstakes—DCSky LLC — is set to launch the first in a series of Web-based offerings this week.  HolyCity web.com is being billed by the company as an innovative Web site portal designed specifically for area businesses and civic organizations.

 

John M. “Buddy” Varn, a local insurance executive and co-founder/CEO of DCSky LLC, sees tremendous opportunity for small businesses that sign on to his company’s service. “We have over 21,000 businesses in Charleston and 90% of them do not have a Web site,” Varn points out. “HolyCityweb.com will position those companies to immediately market and sell their goods and services on the Internet whether they have their own Web site or not.” 

 

Varn is part of a team of successful entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds who pooled their talents and resources in July to form DCSky. With over 34 years in the insurance industry and widespread contacts in the local community, Varn sees a major part of his role as “spreading the joy, ‘oh boy’ with the public.” Last spring, while doing some insurance work for Wayne Caparas, a local entrepreneur, writer, artist and consultant, he introduced me to Steve deGuzman, a close friend of his,” Varn explains.

“The two of them were starting DCSky as an Internet service provider and Web enablement company and asked me to join their team.”

 

deGuzman had enjoyed a successful career as co-founder — with Caparas — of LifeQuest Fitness and as an executive in the Hooters Restaurant organization. He first served as comptroller for Hooters of America and subsequently as manager of restaurants in West Palm Beach and Atlanta before returning to HOA headquarters, where he helped grow the company to more than 300 restaurants.      

 

To round out the DCSky management team, Varn and deGuzman brought in Wayne’s brother, Rally Caparas, from Washington, D.C., to serve as president. Caparas was pursuing a dual career as a senior air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration while at the same time helping brother Wayne build LifeQuest into a $2 million a year operation and an icon in the fitness industry. Wayne’s wife Julie serves as executive administrator for the company.

 

The idea behind DCSky’s first Internet offering is simple. Businesses that subscribe to HolyCityweb.com pay a flat fee of $45 per month. That fee buys a quarter page advertisement on the Holy City Web site, which can be updated at any time by the business. HolyCity will also host the business’s Web site if it has one and provide a link from its advertisement to that site.

 

 “We are not a yellow pages on the Internet,” says Caparas. “Our site will enable local businesses to advertise specials or liquidation sale items, which they can change daily with their own password. We’ll also provide them the tools to sell their products over the Internet.”  Caparas says HolyCity will not be directly involved in e-commerce transactions, but will provide the shopping cart technology necessary for businesses to conduct e-trade. 

 

Internet shoppers will be able to search the homepage by general commodity, specialized product or service and geographic location of the business. They will be able to name their own price for an item in a manner similar to the popular Priceline.com.

 

According to Caparas, HolyCity will stand behind the merchants it signs up — a claim it has trademarked into the motto “Businesses You Can Trust.”  He says businesses will undergo a screening process prior to being brought on as a client, and some will be rejected. 

 

DCSky executives admit marketing the new Web site to the public will be the key to success, and the company plans a huge media blitz in the coming months. In addition to billboards, radio and television commercials (they have purchased 1,000 in the next six weeks), and other forms of advertising, Rally Caparas says educating the community about the capabilities of the Internet will be important. “Most business people still know very little about computers and the Internet. We plan to offer free seminars and workshops to educate them on the capability that exists in the cyber world.”

 

Another marketing strategy, according to Caparas, is to drive the Internet down to the local population. “We went from walking to the store years ago to buying globally on the Internet and skipped a large step in between — local residents buying from local merchants,” he emphasizes.

 

Varn, deGuzman and the Caparas brothers have ambitious plans for HolyCityweb.com. and hope to sign up 1,000 local businesses by Jan. 1, 2001.  Expansion into other cities is planned for the future, as are additional Web site offerings. “We want to make sure we serve the Charleston market well before expanding,” notes Caparas.