Oct. 18, 2007, 12:00 AM - Maybe it's Dan Kennedy's penchant for collecting electric guitars. More likely, it's retailers who realize this shopping-on-the-Internet thing is not to be ignored.

Either way, Vcommerce Corp. is finally rockin'.

The Scottsdale-based company has been around since the late 1990s, when businesses first started looking for help selling goods on the Web. It all but died after the dot-com bust, but Kennedy resuscitated it four years ago.

An influx of $13 million in venture capital last year helped Vcommerce expand beyond behind-the-scenes order-management software and into e-mail marketing, customer service and all the other software that helps retailers run their online storefronts. The company began installing its products for big-name customers, and now the effort is paying off with double the revenue of last year.

"The strategy worked very well in the marketplace," said Kennedy, chairman and chief technology officer. "We've been able to pretty radically change our business model to one that is very in line with our clients' desire to grow the business."

Vcommerce added an online marketing services group that specializes in boosting traffic and sales for retailers' Web sites. The group helps retailers take advantage of search engines and position their goods in comparison-shopping engines.

Shawn Schwegman, former vice president of marketing for Overstock.com, heads the group.

The company continues to look for more senior technical talent, including senior Java and Web developers.

New clients include music and video retailers FYE.com and DeepDiscount.com, and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., a Massachusetts-based warehouse chain. And if you shop on Target.com or Overstock .com, you're using Vcommerce's system.

Now that it has big-name clients, Vcommerce has to keep them happy, and happy enough to become references. "When we restarted the company, we weren't on the map. We didn't have any client proof that we could actually do what we said we could do," Kennedy said. "As short as a year ago, a lot of our customers were brand-new. Now, we can point to successful implementations that are very large-scale and complex. It's really helping us in the market a lot today."

Bill Mirabito, senior analyst covering e-commerce platforms at Forrester Research Inc., said mergers and strategy changes in the rest of the industry have created opportunities for Vcommerce and its expanded services. That's attractive to retailers who want to outsource their technical side.

And because retailers tend to choose e-commerce partners based on who others are using, Mirabito said, making customers happy is important to growth for the Vcommerce crew.

Kennedy thinks alike. Next to his guitar collection, his office whiteboard lists other retail verticals Vcommerce wants to expand in, including more work in apparel and moving into areas such as automotive.