Homefurnishings.com nearing 5,000 hits already

New consumer Web portal debuted Oct. 15

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 20, 2009

AT THE MARKET — The National Home Furnishings Assn. says its new Homefurnishings.com consumer Web portal is off to a good start - not just with its dealers, but with consumers as well.

According to Google Analytics tracking information, in a four-day period since the Oct. 15 launch, the site received 4,688 hits and 23,104 page views. The average viewer visited nearly 5 pages and spent just over four minutes on the site.

Homefurnishings.com also received 1,608 entries for its $5,000 Inspired Living Begins Here sweepstakes for the same time period.

"We knew we had a winning project from all the consumer work we did in preparing the service," said NHFA Executive Vice President Steve DeHaan. Still, the early results were surprisingly strong, he said.

"We did not anticipate the amount of excitement that it is generating from retailers who are viewing the project," said DeHaan. "We did not expect the high number of consumer visits without any consumer advertising. Obviously, they are hungry for the information this sites shares with them."