Word: customers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...site is battling, in the marketplace and among regulators, against Orbitz, which is owned by a group of major airlines. And so far Expedia has outhustled the newcomer, mainly by vastly improving its profit margins on hotel bookings. It also inked a deal with Ticketmaster and bought a custom-vacation wholesaler as well as an off-line business-travel agency. Already the top site in Britain and France, Expedia says it will invade Asia next year. --By Julie Rawe. With reporting by Nathan Thornburgh/Seattle
...airy second-floor studio here at the headquarters of the world's oldest firearms manufacturer, in the iron-rich alpine foothills of Gardone Val Trompia, Italy, there's another, more delicate sound: the staccato tapping of engravers adding the tiny finishing touches to the company's custom-made shotguns. And we mean custom: buyers can specify size, shape, materials and just about any engraved design at prices that range from $25,000 (for a gun with traditional floral and wildlife scenes) to $70,000 and beyond (for gilding and inlays...
...singer Madonna spent about $100,000 last year on a matching pair of custom Beretta SO9 over-and-unders for her husband. In the past two years, despite the global recession, Beretta Holding reports a 15% increase in sales of such "premium grade" guns. The company earns most of its profits from mass-produced weapons such as military handguns, but its annual premium-grade sales of $30 million represent 8% of its revenues and more than one-third of that worldwide market. (Beretta doesn't disclose how many guns it sells...
...season across North America and Europe. Beretta sells the shotguns at a handful of specialized "galleries," including one on Madison Avenue in New York City and another in Dallas. A new one will open in March in Paris. Standard-size guns with traditional engraving are kept in stock. For custom dimensions or engraving, you can fax in your needs--and then wait a year...
...English makers still produce the most-prized custom guns, in very small numbers, and, yes, some of them are modernizing. Holland & Holland of London, founded in 1835, turns out perhaps 125 premium shotguns and rifles a year. "Because of our size, we can't make some of the investments that Beretta can," says Russell Wilkin, technical director. "But we use a lot of the same new technology," including automated initial machining...