More than 500 luggage stores in the United States closed in the travel slump that began September 11, 2001. eBags, the online luggage and handbag retailer, was just a few years old at the time, and a few thousand dollars away from turning its first profit. But like many other firms, it immediately set up a way for customers to donate money in the wake of the terrorist attacks, collecting almost a quarter of a million dollars.
“We were about four days into it,” however, says cofounder and current CEO Jon Nordmark, “when we realized ‘Oh my God, we’re not getting any orders,’” As fellow cofounder and senior vice president Peter Cobb describes the situation, the fall-off in travel, and therefore in luggage sales, combined with the recent dot-com bust to spell bad news for the firm. “We were really just in a foxhole waiting for nuclear winter to end.”

1. What are some of the reasons eBags has grown to be so successful?
2. What information do you think a company like eBags collects from its website, and how does it use these data?
3. eBags was one of the first online stores to allow customer reviews on its website, and it recently announced plans to sell the technology it developed to selected other retailers like Case Logic, which makes camera and laptop bags. How else do you think a firm like eBags can continue to grow online in the future?