Furniture.com logs back on Web with new strategy
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
WALTHAM, Mass. — Nearly 18 months after it was unplugged, one of the industry's best addresses on the Web — Furniture.com — is opening for online business again.
This time, it is the home of an effort by retailers Levitz Furniture and Seaman's to marry the Web to more than 100 brick-and-mortar stores.
The new, fully transactional e-commerce site was to launch this week.
Acquired out of bankruptcy for $1 million late last year, Furniture.com has resurfaced as a new company with an entirely different business model than the one that burned through more than $100 million in backing in two years. The newly formed company, Furniture.com Inc., seeks to leverage the Web as a shopping tool with a physical retail presence and proven distribution and warehousing infrastructure.
Last October, the URL www.furniture.com, along with15 others, was acquired with other intellectual property by Furniture Acquisition Corp., a shell company set up by Resurgence Asset Management, the majority owner of Levitz and Seaman.
Furniture.com Inc. is led by President Carl Prindle, the previous Furniture.com's senior vice president of product development.
"It is a model with a lot of promise," Prindle said. "We're offering brand-name furniture, reaching new customers and servicing them with a fully developed infrastructure. The combination of these three things is powerful."
The proven infrastructure marks perhaps the biggest difference between the old and new Furniture.coms. Where the first attempt began with a sophisticated Web site heavily promoted with advertising and marketing campaigns, it ended in part because of the difficulties of last-mile delivery.
The new Furniture.com begins with Levitz and Seaman's, and those chains' already established delivery networks.
The new business model allows consumers to use the Web site to browse, compare and even buy brand-name furniture and accessories, as well as to access decorating advice and product information.
Levitz and Seaman's stores will provide customer service and delivery via local showrooms. After the transaction, customers will be able to track their orders online.
According to Prindle, most items will be available in one to two weeks. Product available on the site, which will represent about two-thirds of the furniture carried by Levitz and Seaman's, will primarily be proven sellers that can ship quickly.
"Furniture.com is not only extending our ability as retailers to reach our customers, but the integration of their technology throughout our stores, merchandising group and service organization will enable us to better serve our customers," said Prindle.
Levitz and Seaman's stores will go live first, and the new company is also seeking to partner with other retail chains in order to achieve national reach and delivery capability.
Only consumers in areas served by a Levitz or Seaman's, or a local partner, will be able to buy on the site. Other consumers will be able to register to be notified when new showrooms or sales and delivery services are established in their area.
Levitz and Seaman's provide Furniture.com with reach to approximately 32% of the U.S. population and geographic coverage of about 15% to 20%. Coverage is concentrated in the Northeast and along the West Coast, where the chains have most of their stores.
To appeal to other retailers, Furniture.com is touting its ability to provide marketing data from the online product searches that shoppers execute, and to offer it by geographic regions. Also offered are turnkey Web sites built on the Furniture.com platform, integrated store tag and promotions systems, and integration with finance and delivery systems.
"This is a model that will get proven out fairly quickly," Prindle said. "We will expand slowly, as operations and logistics warrant. We've had some interesting discussions with retailers already."
Pricing information will be available online as well, but by local marketing area triggered by ZIP codes entered at the site. This is possible with the database-driven store tag system developed for Levitz and Seaman's with e-commerce in mind.
To promote traffic to the site, Levitz and Seaman's will include pointers in their print, TV and direct-mail advertising, emphasizing the ability to track orders online.
In addition to Furniture.com, the two retail chains are represented on the Web with their own standalone sites that mirror in content and capability the Furniture.com site.
Founded by Steve Rothschild, Furniture.com originally launched as FurnitureSite.com in 1996. The e-commerce company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2000 when funding ran out.
Prindle joined Furniture.com in 1998. Previously, he was involved in the designs of the Reebok pump and the Black & Decker Dustbuster, among other consumer products.
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Furniture.com seeks partners
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