Technology stories - May 2007

Enesco unveils enhanced e-commerce Web site
Habersham’s new site designed to be consumer friendly
New Web site helps businesses use birthdays as new customer generator
AprilCornell.com now offers online shopping
3Dream.net lets consumers see new furniture in their homes – virtually

Enesco LLC, announced the launch of an enhanced consumer shopping Web site at enesco.com. Basil Elliott, president and CEO, said the redesign marks the first of several strategic online initiatives Enesco will launch in 2007.

Habersham’s new site designed to be consumer friendly

Habersham has launched a new Web site, http://www.habershamdesigns.com/, to capture the grandeur, style and range of its full line of residential furniture designs and kitchen and bath custom cabinetry.

The new design responds to customer trends and needs through a more comprehensive showcase of product offerings and a number of new user-friendly features and options, company officials said.

“We feel that this new site fully represents the vision of our Habersham Home complete interior design concept,” said Tom Skipper, vice president of sales and marketing, Habersham. “Our line has grown significantly in recent years with the addition of kitchen and bath custom cabinetry, new residential furniture designs and finish options. The site helps communicate how these versatile designs and rich finishes work seamlessly together to create stunning Grand European and Grand American Casual looks for today’s home.”

The new site showcases the breadth of Habersham’s furniture designs, kitchen and bath offerings in a user-friendly “Design Categories” section. Here, the viewer can select from Dining Room, Bedroom, Entertainment and Home Office, Occasional and Home Elements, Kitchen, Bath and Custom Design categories – each featuring a variety of product design photos and descriptions. A special Collections area highlights offerings from the company’s licensed groupings, including the Claude Monet, Biltmore Estate and Plaza Collections.

The site also features improved tools to help consumers find their nearest dealer and to request product literature and more information. Other new features include a section highlighting the company’s national consumer ads, a press room and a special password protected trade log-in area for dealers, designers and other trade partners.

New Web site helps businesses use birthdays as new customer generator

A newly launched Web site is using consumers' birthdays to create new revenue and customers for business owners across the United States.

TheBirthdayRegister.com is offers a way for businesses to offer gifts to drive new customers in the door.

Business owners benefit in three ways.

#1: The Birthday Register allows businesses to attract new customers by offering gift certificates to people who register their birthday securely online.

#2: TheBirthdayRegister.com pays businesses to tell people how to register for these free gift certificates.

#3: TheBirthdayRegister.com pays businesses to tell other merchants how to get new customers through birthdays.

Consumers simply go to the site - http://www.thebirthdayregister.com/ - and spend a few minutes registering their birthday and selecting five free gifts, with no purchase necessary. The patent-pending BirthdayRegister does not share registrants' information with third party sources and all online information is secure.

It's the way the gifts are selected that makes this work so well for merchants says TheBirthdayRegister.com founder Bob Woolard. "A registrant chooses their gifts by category like Restaurants/Steak House. Now we know the consumer likes steak restaurants. Steak restaurant owners want to be the one to give the gift because that gets new customers in the door with a gesture of goodwill," Woolard said. It works that way for every merchant category.

Two weeks before the birthday, TheBirthdayRegister.com sends out the free gift certificates. Consumers simply present the certificate along with a valid birth date identification such as a driver's license. "Consumers enjoy this special birthday gesture and merchants enjoy getting new customers in the door," Woolard said.

Businesses can license this concept, tell their customers and prospects how they can get free birthday gifts, and when the first certificate is sent, the business makes 25 cents. Woolard says, "It's not hard for them to make more money than the service costs, so they can end up getting paid to give free gifts and get new customers, year after year."

AprilCornell.com now offers online shopping

April Cornell has redesigned her Web site, http://www.aprilcornell.com/, which now offers online purchasing.  The retail Web site evolved as an extension of her retail stores, located in New York City, Philadelphia and Burlington, VT, and enables all customers to have easy access to April Cornell products.

"For busy women, which is just about everyone," Cornell said, "it provides the convenience of safe and easy online shopping."

Similar to the April Cornell stores, the Web site carries April Cornell linens, children and women's clothing, intimate apparel, Indian-influenced furniture and giftware items, as well as April Cornell licensed products featuring the artist's signature designs. The online store offers free shipping on purchases of more than $150 and makes available special promotions to those who register for the April Cornell mailing list.

In addition to the online store, the Web site also offers the opportunity to interact with the world of April Cornell. April's World, a link conveniently located on the homepage, takes visitors to an informative and interactive area.  Visitors can read April's musings, learn what's new, write a letter to April and even communicate with April and her fans on April's blog.

Cornell has long been recognized for her philanthropic endeavors through the Giving World Foundation.  Her Web site now offers opportunities for others to support this charity while shopping.  The foundation, founded by April and her husband in the early 1990s, provides a 'hand up,' not a handout, to those in need throughout India. The primary mission of the Giving World is to help disadvantaged people become self-reliant by building a stronger sense of self worth and empowering them to achieve solutions that improve their quality of life.  "I know our customers are very much a part of the Giving world in spirit," says April, "and they can now join it online and know that these projects are well monitored and important projects that make a difference in the world." 

3Dream.net lets consumers see new furniture in their homes – virtually
 
Jim Gabbert, chairman of Minneapolis-based retail chain Gabbert’s Furniture and Design Studio, was on hand during the High Point Market to launch 3Dream.net, the groundbreaking 3D visualization tool for retail store and independent interior designers.
 
Gabbert’s Furniture and Design Studio has already signed on for the service, which allows designers to show their customers what real furniture will actually look like in their homes. “3Dream removes a lot of the risk for consumers who have difficulty visualizing what a design will look like in reality,” Gabbert said.
 
3Dream.net, which was beta tested throughout 2006 under the name DesignLinxOnline, is a subscription-based service. Using the 3Dream application, retail store and independent interior designers can create and instantly modify home furnishings design plans onscreen, in accordance with the client or customer’s floor plans. The crux of the 3Dream system is its use of real-world, 3D models of products ranging from furniture and accessories to window treatments and floor coverings, a bonus for marketers of branded furniture products.
 
“The fact that your clients can ‘walk through’ their new rooms is so powerful. It means you get faster buy-in and an immediate emotional response. Consumers buy more when you’ve reduced the risk of making a ‘design mistake,” said Ross Barlett, co-founder and CEO of ViewIT Technologies, creator of 3Dream.
 
Ross and Donna Barlett are the husband-wife team behind “The Board,” the immensely popular interior design tool that uses magnetic templates to show customers interior design plans.