FurnitureFan to develop Web sites for Best Brands dealers
By Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, September 17, 2001
SUDBURY, Mass. — SUDBURY, Mass. — FurnitureFan has been tapped by the Best Brands Plus buying group to develop Web sites for more than a dozen member retailers and to generate traffic and leads via the FurnitureFan.com portal site.
Additional Best Brands members are expected to sign on for sites as the initial tests unfold.
Trying the FurnitureFan service for at least a year are such retailers as Vermont Furniture Galleries in Williston, Vt.; Hefner Furniture & Appliance in Poplar Bluff, Mo.; and Royal's Furniture in Belle Glade, Fla.
Best Brands Plus was attracted to FurnitureFan's bricks-and-clicks model of attracting traffic, facilitating shopping online, then referring consumers to furniture stores in their area for the purchase.
"By selecting a nationwide cross section (of stores), we can use their experience to customize the FurnitureFan model to meet all our member's needs," said Jerry Honea, merchandise manager at Best Brands Plus. "We anticipate full store involvement within the year."
Best Brands stores, which are locally owned and operated, number more than 1,300 store fronts of about 550 retailers. Member dealers sell primarily brand-name electronics, appliances and furniture.
Of the dozen signing up for the initial year, four already have Web sites.
Consistent with FurnitureFan's approach, a templated site is created within the FurnitureFan community for each retailer and a link to an existing site is provided within the templated environment.
Gary Chase, president of FurnitureFan, said the Internet company is working to develop relationships with several buying groups in North America. Best Brands Plus is based in Germantown, Tenn.
As first reported in eDaily
