Leading Retail Equity Firm and Online Retailer of Distinct Home
Living Products Launches Multiple Web Storefronts on Demandware
eCommerce Platform
WOBURN, Mass.--(Business Wire)--
Demandware, developer of the only enterprise-class on-demand
ecommerce platform, today announced that Richlund Ventures has
selected the Demandware eCommerce Platform to power all of its home
living destination ecommerce sites. The multi-brand retail equity firm
recently launched two Web storefronts on Demandware -
www.compactappliance.com and www.livingdirect.com - with plans to roll
out additional sites in the coming months.
Compact Appliance provides small-format home appliances, while
Living Direct provides a broader spectrum of home living products,
including appliances, outdoor furniture and housewares. The combined
annual revenue of the two brands is approximately $37 million.
Founded in 1999, Richlund Ventures is a privately-owned company
that specializes in identifying niche and emerging markets and meeting
the needs and challenges those opportunities present through multiple
retail websites. The company's direct retail brands include Compact
Appliance, Living Direct, EdgeStar, Portable Airshop, Hot Water Source
and Richlund Supply. Richlund Ventures wanted an ecommerce solution
that was easily customizable, included rich merchandising
capabilities, allowed them to launch multiple sites quickly and didn't
require a significant investment in IT infrastructure.
"Everything is better with Demandware," said Jason Roussos,
president of Richlund Ventures. "It has been a fundamental change in
how we do business. We are projecting significant growth for our
online channel and with Demandware we have an ecommerce platform that
can take us to the next level."
Richlund Ventures selected Demandware because of the following
differentiators:
-- Full in-house control: Richlund Ventures needed to be able to
easily customize their sites and make changes quickly.
Demandware provides full control over merchandising
promotions, search, catalog, pricing and all other aspects of
the online shopping experience.
-- Continuous innovation through the on-demand model:
Demandware's automatic upgrades allows Richlund Ventures to
constantly innovate their sites, while eliminating the burden
of maintaining costly IT infrastructure.
-- Ability to launch multiple sites quickly, without costly
services: Demandware's architecture makes it possible to
quickly roll out multiple sites from within one environment.
The second site, compactappliance.com, was launched with no
assistance from Demandware and in less than 45 days.
"We are a retailer, not a technology company. We don't want to own
the technology or the infrastructure, but we are fast-moving and it's
important that we stay ahead of the innovation curve," said Roussos.
"With Demandware, we can take advantage of the constant stream of new
features that they provide, while we focus on our core competency of
marketing and merchandising our product offerings."
"Richlund Ventures is an incredibly astute retail equity firm that
understands the potential of the online channel and we're delighted to
welcome them to the Demandware family. Along with Demandware's other
multi-site clients, Richlund Ventures recognizes the unique
operational advantages of our on-demand model for serving multi-brand
businesses," said Stephan Schambach, chairman and founder of
Demandware.
About Richlund Ventures
Founded in 1999 with the launch of the Compact Appliance.com
website, Richlund Ventures is a privately owned company that
specializes in identifying niche and emerging markets and meeting the
needs and challenges those opportunities present through multiple
retail websites. Richlund Ventures' flagship website continues to be
Compact Appliance.com which was created to provide an online
destination for people in search of distinctive home appliances that
offer superior style and maximum functionality. In addition to its
online marketing and retail division, Richlund Ventures is the direct
importer for the EdgeStar line of appliances.
Richlund Ventures' sustained level of success is attributable to a
consistent focus on innovation, evolving marketing techniques and a
continual emphasis on offering the best service and sales support
possible. Since inception, the company has always understood that in
order to maintain viability in today's marketplace, it must provide
first-class service and sales support and measures success by how well
it is able to execute that directive. Richlund Ventures is uniquely
positioned through the Compact Appliance.com website to take advantage
of emerging growth trends such as retiring baby boomers downsizing
their living spaces and the worldwide move towards more
environmentally conscious "green" appliances. The company is located
in Austin, Texas.
About Demandware, Inc.
Demandware drives the success of high-growth brands with the only
enterprise-class On-Demand eCommerce Platform that empowers
merchandising and marketing talent with total control over the
shopping experience and continuous competitive differentiation.
Leading brands such as Bare Escentuals, House of Fraser, Playmobil,
Sally Beauty Supply and Timberland leverage Demandware's enterprise
class eCommerce functionality and automatic upgrades to help achieve
higher conversion rates, increase average order size, and improve
customer retention. Demandware is the only on-demand eCommerce
solution that enables the rapid rollout of new sites, provides
ubiquitous access to business and technical users, and is backed by a
patented grid computing architecture that delivers capacity as needed
for performance and reliability that exceeds industry standards. For
more information about Demandware, visit www.demandware.com, call
888-553-9216 or email info@demandware.com.
fama PR
Keri Bertolino, 617-758-4148
demandware@famapr.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
