Small Business Analysis

Analysis of Small Business Artifacts

The Pearl Ice Cream and Coffee House in downtown La Crosse, WI uses storytelling to present the company to its audience and potential customers. The business’ “Our Story” webpage explains the origins of the store and longtime employee through the story of his work in the store, complete with dialogue. This storytelling also shows the strong work ethic of the man behind it all and shows how they are a family run business committed to their customers. This makes the company and their employees seem relatable in their hard work ethic since Oscar decided to make most of the ice cream flavors in shop. Yet it also makes the company appear humble and still possessive of the same values the company and employees held during the business's beginnings. The Pearl also focuses on emotions, and how they want to make customers satisfied and happy, and they do so by making the point that ice cream makes people smile (par. 5, see Figure 3).

Wags & Whiskers

The Pearl Ice Cream and Coffee House

People's Food Co-op

Handmade Natural Beauty

Wags and Whiskers, an independent pet store in La Crosse, WI, presents themselves very simply in their “About Us” webpage. All of the writing is short and concise so that their main, most important points and concerns are at the forefront. Their writing and presentation is very customer oriented/driven, so they appeal to their audience with pathos. For they show that they care about pets, much like the people going to shop there, and that they feel the same way as their customers, so they know how to meet their needs. Like many other small businesses, Wags and Whiskers takes time to touch on their background and the beginnings of the business.

Handmade Natural Beauty, a soap and beauty business in La Crosse, has a very personal “About Us” webpage. The business owner is the clear writer of the piece, who emphasizes the natural products and additives in their products which appears to be a way to distinguish their products from similar ones sold elsewhere. Being that this document of organizationally situated authorship is written by the owner herself, it is written in first person language referring to much of the steps taken to establish a storefront and quality products. Interaction with customers is also emphasized by the author of the piece, and it comes across as something truly important to the owner and the business as a whole (see Figure 1).

People’s Food Co-op, a grocery store with stores in the La Crosse and nearby Minnesota areas, first poses several questions to the audience about their shopping experiences in their “About Us” page on their website. Their mission statements and values clearly show to have influenced what’s included in their “About Us” section, and are often reflected in their language. People’s Food Co-op therefore uses ethos to appeal to their audience and client base. They emphasize what they find important and ethical to their line of work, and how this is something big competitors don’t offer, as they strive to consider and "respect not only our shoppers, but our community and our environment as well," (par. 2) . They further make appeals to audience by emphasizing their services and ties to the community, as their writing mentions how much they want to help people have a great experience and provide them healthy options (see Figure 2, below). This implies that they know their audience and customers and what they want, need and look for in a shopping experience. Additionally, along with the first person language, it invites personability with customers.

Bookends on Main

Bookends on Main is an independent bookstore in the heart of Menomonie, WI. Unlike many other small businesses’ “About Us” webpages, Bookends on Main uses third person language in their document. This language is mainly used to describe the store’s background, new owner and new ownership, as it explains the new owner’s life, career and love of books and language. Their writing presents the business as a fixture in the community, even referencing statements made by others who stated, “Our town needs this store,” (par. 2). Combined with the store’s aim to be “…a long standing presence on Main Street,” (par. 2; see Figure 4) the language really cements the business’ importance to the community.