designonlineinc.com Launches e-Commerce Site. Expanded Capabilities Will Impact the Design Profession by Offering Designers Unprecedented Access to Buy Fine Furnishings Online

Furniture World Magazine

The interior design industry's original and premiere online resource for fine furnishings to the trade only, designonlineinc.com, announces the launch of the first phase of its business- to-business e-commerce site. The launch of the e-commerce site will revolutionize the way designers do business. Now, when designers subscribe to the site, they can not only search for specific items but can also buy many of them directly from designonlineinc.com. And, because of the unique capabilities of the Internet, the site will offer the most current, up-to-date information available. Developed in 1994 by designers for designers, designonlineinc.com was originally, and remains, an online catalog library of fine furnishings, accessible to the trade only. The initial concept was to provide member manufacturers with a dynamic, less expensive way to present their products to architects, designers, and dealers, while at the same time providing design professionals with a quick and cost-effective search method to locate products. "The e-commerce site is a natural extension to our library and a service our subscribers and participating manufacturers wanted us to provide," said Joan Gaulden, Founder and CEO of designonlineinc.com. "Our program streamlines the research process for designers and selling process for manufacturers, making it easier and more efficient for manufacturers and designers to do business with each other." Catering to a traditionally low-tech industry, designonlineinc.com is very user-friendly. The site is driven by a powerful search engine and copyrighted classification system, which allows designers to specify products and their suitability for projects in minutes rather than hours. The unique search engine allows designers to select an item, then narrow the search using specifics, such as price, size, material, finish, style, country of origin or period. Designers can also use their own keywords. With 24-hour access from any location, the convenience and time savings for designers are unparalleled. "It's truly a win-win for everyone involved. designonlineinc.com pays dealers and showrooms for their services as fulfillment agents, gives credit to manufacturers' reps for sales made in their territories and the manufacturer connects with qualified buyers. The designers go to just one source for their needs, eliminating the time-consuming and costly process of meeting the requirements for numerous vendors," said Gaulden. designonlineinc.com is the original and largest online site of its kind. Developed for the interior design trade only, designonlineinc.com has more than 180 fine furnishings catalogs in a searchable database of more than 50,000 items. The site is also used as a research tool in over 118 design schools across the nation. The company is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina and can be contacted at (800) 789-1087.