Somerton Dwelling Takes E-Commerce Site Live

October 15, 2015  by in Furniture Retailing, Industry, Internet   

The company’s strategy is to drive consumers to its retail partners’ stores. The website features the entire range of Somerton’s furnishings and when consumers within a designated radius of a Somerton retail partner browses the site, the local retailer’s branding appears on every page.

Before consumers make their online purchases they may decide to visit the retailer’s showroom to see Somerton’s merchandise, giving the retailer an opportunity to initiate a new relationship. When consumers opt to shop exclusively through the online site, Somerton Dwelling’s retailers still reap the benefits.

When an online order is placed, the furniture is delivered to the retailer, which then handles last-mile delivery, in-home assembly, removal of packaging and after-sale service and repair. The retailer pays no setup fees or monthly fees but profits as it would from an in-store transaction. 

For online orders from underserved areas where dealers do not have retail stores, Somerton Dwelling handles transactions, white-glove delivery and customer service directly.

“We are proud of the relationships we’ve created with our retailers, who have built strong brands in their marketplaces,” said Rita Ho-Bezzola, CEO. “For us, it’s important that our new co-branding, e-Commerce model increases sales for our retailers as well as for the company. The site will give our retailers substantive net gains without the associated costs.” 

Somerton Dwelling is supporting the website with national and regional online advertising campaigns to build the company’s visibility.

“This really is a win-win scenario,” Ho-Bezzola said. “We’ve structured online sales to harness the Internet’s true potential for our dealers. They’ll sell merchandise at great margins to a whole new crop of customers via our website.