PERTH, August 12, 1998 -- A number of Perth businesses now display their merchandise and services to a world-wide market, thanks to a pilot project in Lanark County.

Lanark Communications Network (LCN) has been coordinating the efforts locally of an Industry Canada program, Community Storefronts, that allows businesses to conduct safe, secure business on the Internet.

Four rural areas of the country were chosen to take part: North Okanagan Valley, BC; Lanaudiere Re-gion, Que.; Cape Breton and the Strait Region and Lanark County.

The Lanark County project has been the most successful of all the test sites. All available spots on the first phase of the local project have been filled. Thirty-one new spaces have now been made available to local businesses.

The county was chosen to be part of the pilot program largely because of the success of LCN and Community Access Program, which maintains 24 free public access Internet locations throughout the county.

Project funding comes from Industry Canada and company partnerships.

Bob Leitch, LCN executive director, says the program has been challenging, presenting "a steep learning curve" between those with Internet experience and those without.

Businesses maintain their own Internet sites. Some already had their own sites, others developed one for the program.

Website training is provided, allowing businesses to change merchandise or prices on the site themselves.

Customers can reach the sites through the program's webpage, www.communitystorefronts.com.

When an item or items at a particular store have been chosen, on-line shoppers follow easy instructions to link to a special secure site.

Delivery and credit card information can then be entered. The credit card details go directly to the bank, Mr. Leitch said, which looks after the transfer of funds - the merchant never sees the credit information.

Shoppers in BC or Europe, for example, can make safe electronic purchases of items or services from area businesses, explained Gord Wilcox, community access coordinator.

One of the only stumbling blocks in this new type of business transaction is earning the trust of potential on-line users.

"At first people did not trust (the security of) fax machines and bank machines, Interac," said Mr. Wilcox.

When a customer orders on the Internet, a secure service is engaged, making it safe to transfer data to the bank. Such information is electronically scrambled and can only be unlocked by an electronic "key" at the other end.

When placing telephone orders, Mr. Leitch added, credit card information is often written on pieces of paper - paper that can be misplaced or found discarded in garbage dumpsters.

With electronic commerce there is no paper trail, Mr. Wilcox said.

Perth businesses on-line include a local gift and flower shop, a lawyers' office, video store, optometrists, real estate appraiser, hobby shop, photo-graphy service, accommodation/lodging, a knitting shop, an Internet provider and plumbing service.

"It's simple," said Mr. Wilcox, "you choose a storefront (on the website), click on it and order" from your computer screen, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

At the end of the eight-month pilot project, businesses can choose to continue on-line or close their site.

Estimated set-up and training costs could reach $8,000, but through the subsidized Community Storefronts program, businesses pay only about $300, Mr. Leitch said, and receive on- and off-line support.

E-commerce is expected to grow from a $4 billion/year industry to a $25 billion one by 2001 (the same size as the movie and television industry in the United States).

Internet marketing is not new, Mr. Wilcox said, but Internet commerce is. Other, non-profit e-commerce projects, such as paying municipal taxes on-line, are in the works.

Companies interested in becoming part of the second phase of this new world-wide way of business can contact LCN at 267-5593 or e-mail, lcn@perth.igs.net before August 19.