Furniture Today,
LAS VEGAS — Sligh Furniture has launched an e-commerce Web site that enables direct-to-consumer sales without cutting out the retailer, salespeople or sales representatives.


The upscale case goods company is the first in the industry to use the patented Distribution Relationship Management software from Reshare of Minneapolis. Specialty bedding producer Natura World also has signed on and expects to add e-commerce to its Web site this fall.

The software, already used by companies in other industries, allows a manufacturer to sell its full lineup online from its Web site. The consumer gets to select the retailer of her choice from the manufacturer’s distribution network, who completes the sale.

More than 90% of consumers want to see furniture at retail before buying, so Sligh’s main thrust will continue to be store display, said Chairman Rob Sligh. Still, he said 7% of consumers don’t want to take the time to drive around to stores and look before buying.

“That small but meaningful segment is an attractive opportunity for incremental sales, and it’s growing faster than the rest of the consumer segments,” Sligh said.

Consumers shopping Sligh’s Web site will see pricing he described as “fair to consumers and acceptable to the broadest range of our dealers.” When they find what they’re looking for, they add it to their online shopping cart and select a dealer. Consumers can pay by credit card or debit card, then get an e-mailed confirmation.

The selected dealer also gets an e-mail and assigns a salesperson to the order. The salesperson contacts the consumer and can verify measurements or do other things to validate the sale and begin building a relationship.

“The whole economics of it are designed to emulate the brick-and-mortar world, so the dealer’s margins, the salesman’s pay — all that is the same as it would be in the physical world,” Sligh said.

Jim Gabbert, chairman and CEO of Minneapolis-based retailer Gabberts and owner of Furniture Triangle, which is marketing the Reshare system to the industry, said Internet and store shopping are not mutually exclusive, and that the consumer is looking in both places for information to help them make decisions.

Asked what it costs a manufacturer to set up the system, Gabbert said the installation fee is “in the mid-five figures” and the fee per transaction is about 1% of the sale.

Furniture Triangle President Ralph Rossdeutscher said, “Being able to sell over the Web, we can show the full line of product, where no one store has the full line.” Retailers should like it because it could lead to added business from products they’re not carrying, he added.

Gabbert, who was at last week’s market with Reshare President Jeff Ehrmann discussing the system with suppliers, said he got a lot of interest.