Husband and wife team, Bill and Anji Cozart, founded Art of Appreciation in 2000 as a way to earn extra income and allow Anji to stay home with their sons. More than 10 years later, ArtofAppreciation.com is a thriving online destination with a staff of 15–20 employees depending on seasonal needs. They have a multichannel operation and sell their Gourmet Gift Baskets and Spa Sets to customers all over the country.

The Cozarts had their finger on the internet pulse. Three years after the launch of their gourmet gift basket business, Amazon launched their own gourmet foods store. What some small business owners might have seen as a threat, the Cozarts saw as an opportunity, and Art of Appreciation became an early Amazon seller. “We have had the privilege of being an Amazon Marketplace vendor in gourmet food since 2005,” says Anji Cozart. “We’ve enjoyed the status of featured merchant, the bonus of an Amazon Storefront, are heavily vested into the FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program, and have started selling merchandise direct to Amazon through their vendor.central program.”

With a decade of business under their collective belts, Art of Appreciation found themselves with a successful business that was becoming difficult to manage. Having more than one sales channel required “long, long, long hours of duplicate work on both sites” says Cozart. They needed one interface to manage all of their sales channels and decided to move ArtofAppreciation.com over to Amazon Webstore. “The switch to Amazon Webstore was a logical option. We were able to create a unique look and feel that accurately reflects our company...[and] being able to manage our inventory from one central location has provided us much relief from the strain of managing two different systems with orders coming in from multiple sales channels.”

It’s a difficult economy for small business owners, but Art of Appreciation has grown despite the storm. “If it wasn’t for Amazon we would not be where we are today,” says Cozart. “The exposure, the number of shoppers, the credibility...Amazon has given us the tools we needed to build a reputable force in the marketplace during one of the hardest economic times in recent history.”