Geek Gestalt

"Yay."

That's one of the colorful and energetic buzzwords that Moo.com, a U.K. company mostly known for its whimsical user-generated business cards, has used to get people excited about its products.

And now, it might well be the grateful word coming out of the mouths of its American customers--who make up about half of the company's sales--because Moo.com has finally decided to open a U.S. operations center.

Later this year, Moo.com plans to open a U.S. operations center, a move that will allow it to serve its American customers much more quickly.

(Credit: Moo.com)

Until now, those of us on the western side of the Atlantic ordering Moo cards, as they're known, have had to wait, sometimes for up to two weeks, to take delivery. That's fine if you don't have any kind of time crunch, but one way that many people use Moo cards is to quickly order up a set to take with them to an event. If, like me and a few people I know, you're not always on top of your to-do list, this often didn't work because the cards wouldn't arrive from Moo's London facility until it was too late.

With the opening of its operations center in Providence, R.I., however, Moo should be able to get cards into U.S. customers' hands much quicker, something that should help keep customers happy and returning again and again.

The decision is also a good sign for Moo--and perhaps for other companies that focus on so-called "people-powered" products--since putting resources into a U.S. expansion shows that it is doing well enough during the recession to warrant crossing the ocean.

The company said it will open the center sometime during the first half of 2009. Until that happens, however, plan well ahead for any kind of Moo cards you might want to order. And if you want some for South by Southwest, which is coming up in less than three weeks, you'd better move fast.