Evlove Intimates (yes, that would be evolve spelled backwards) has been selling lingerie since the Fall of 2006.  Shortly after their inception, Evlove joined the prosumer movement, allowing customers to customize lingerie items on the Evlove website.  Evlove founder Jenny Dombroski took time to speak with us about her company and adventures in e-tailing.

Chicago Tech News: How long have visitors been able to customize lingerie directly off your website? (more…)

TopMassageTables.com is an e-tailer of massage products that dates back to 2002 and is somewhat unusual in the Chicago tech scene for a few reasons.  First, their offices recently moved from the North Side to the South Side in something of a reverse commute compared to most office expansions.  Secondly, whereas most post-dotBomb start-ups in Chicago are heavily invested in open sources technologies, TopMassageTables.com is a Microsoft shop.  Finally, you don’t see nearly as many women on the programming side of the tech table, compared to the boys. TopMassageTable.com’s president and founder, Mandy Lane is a bona fide ASP.net coder.  She also was recently named The National Association of Professional and Executive Women’s 2009 E-Commerce Woman of the Year. (more…)

Is e-Commerce a glamorous profession? Some people would have you think so, but your small business owners often tell you bizarre tales that are anything but. In the interest of giving equal time to the smaller interests who get under served in the media, and to sate the requests for a redux of my more sardonic commentary from the dotCom boom of the nineties, I relate to you a true story of the glamorous life in e-Commerce. (more…)