Luxury home furnishings flash sales website LuxeYard launches

Alex Lemonde-Gray -- Furniture Today, January 24, 2012

LOS ANGELES — LuxeYard, a luxury home furnishings and décor flash sale website, announced its formal company launch on Tuesday, made possible by $3.5 million in financing from private investors.

According to the company, LuxeYard updates the flash sale model by introducing two new e-commerce processes: Concierge Buying and Group Buy. The flash sales website at www.luxeyard.com claims that these concepts shift the pricing and sourcing power from retailers to consumers, by allowing consumers to influence featured products and final prices.

With Concierge Buying, LuxeYard members can request items they would like to purchase at discounted price by posting photos to one of LuxeYard's social media platforms, which includes Facebook and Twitter. LuxeYard will then source the most popular product as determined by user votes, or a comparable or higher quality product, and offer it on the website at what it says is a fraction of a comparable retail price.

Group Buy allows LuxeYard members to leverage social media to encourage other users to purchase a featured product, which drives product prices down for featured Group Buy items.

Everyone who purchased the Group Buy Item will pay the final lowest price. For example, a member may purchase an item for $100, share the information on Facebook encouraging others to buy the same product, and two days later find out that customer demand pushed the price down to $50. That would result in the original purchasing member only paying the end price of $50.

"Our team identified a significant hole in the explosive flash sale marketplace, realizing the customer experience was not interactive, community-driven or personalized," said Braden Richter, CEO of LuxeYard. "We empower consumers with our Concierge Buying concept, shifting the sourcing of goods to the consumer. LuxeYard is combining the best of a flash sale with a unique e-commerce platform and an engaging interactive community."

LuxeYard also features these tools:

• LuxeLife Trendsetters - A community of design professionals provides design curation and offers aesthetic insights, product recommendations and special events exclusively for LuxeYard members. Members may ask the community questions and receive product recommendations. Some of the founding LuxeLife Trendsetters include Nicky Hilton, Daniella Clarke, Faye Resnick, Bobby Berk, Amanda Rosbrook and Forbes Riley.

• Room Planner - Allows consumers to enter room dimensions and/or upload a photo of the room in which they'd place a product they're considering, to get a sense for how the item fits with the current décor and layout before purchasing.

• LuxePop - Allows members to shop at LuxePop stores from their own homes.

LuxeYard says it offers members home furnishings and décor at up to 70% off standard retail prices. According to a press release from the company, LuxeYard does not hold inventory; manufacturers ship products directly to consumers.