Furniture veteran Sev Ritchie joins Ayr1.com

Web company will work with Reshare to offer services

Brian Carroll -- Furniture Today, October 15, 2008

SUDBURY, Ontario - Furniture industry veteran Sev Ritchie has joined retail Web solutions company Ayr1.com as vice president of corporate affairs.

Most recently, Ritchie was a sales and marketing executive with FurnitureDealer.net, a Burnsville, Minn.-based Internet marketing company. Earlier, he was president of FurnitureFan.com, an online marketing services company he joined in 2001.

Ayr1 specializes in the development of e-commerce solutions for the home furnishings industry. It designs and hosts retail Web sites, and develops Web-delivered electronic product catalogs.

"Sev Ritchie will be in attendance at (the High Point) market, where he is looking forward to reestablishing all of his old business relationships and developing many more," said Ron Goswell, CEO at Ayr1.

According to Goswell, Ayr1 has a multi-faceted growth strategy that aims to capitalize on what is a growing trend of pre-shopping home furnishings purchases on the Internet. The strategy centers on emphasizing the company's sophisticated, database-generated electronic catalogs that enable robust search and online showrooms.

To execute its marketing plan, Ayr1 and Ritchie are working to set up meetings with retailers and manufacturers at market. The company also is hiring and training 26 sales and marketing representatives for its U.S. and Canadian sales staffs.

Also a part of Ayr1's growth strategy is a partnership with Reshare Corp. to offer a portfolio of online services that enable manufacturers and importers to sell directly to consumers in partnership with their retailers. The service, which is powered by Reshare's C3 software, allows consumers to select and purchase home furnishings from a manufacturer's inventory online, then choose a preferred retailer for local service, support and delivery.

Though the transaction occurs at the manufacturer's site, profits attributable to the sale are distributed by Reshare's C3 software just as if it were an in-store sale. Manufacturers using the software already include Caber/Protect-a-Bed, Natura, Howard Miller and Sligh Furniture.

"Reshare's patents are truly brilliant," Goswell said. "In these difficult economic times, the furniture industry must embrace new, more efficient technologies while protecting its current distribution channels."