CSN Stores Blurs Lines Between Competitor & Collaborator

BOSTON, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- CSN Stores (www.csnstores.com), the largest online-only retailer of furniture and home goods in the U.S., has a new advertising media business that's growing rapidly.  It's called Get It Near Me, and has the goal of better serving the millions of people visiting CSN's websites each month – even if it means delivering some of those shoppers to a brick & mortar competitor.  This month, Get It Near Me made two substantial deals with one of America's largest furniture retailers and with the Furniture Marketing Group (FMG), America's largest-volume cooperative of furniture retailers representing more than 700 stores, including 50 of the Top 100.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101005/NE76847)

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20101005/NE76847)

Launched in August 2009, Get It Near Me is based on the simple concept that advertisers' primary need is to be in the right place at the right time. CSN's 200+ sites now receive more than 10 million visits each month and most of those people are actively shopping for furniture. But they don't always end up buying online, so advertising to them while they shop online is a unique chance for advertisers to reach qualified buyers at just the right time. In fact, similar to many online home goods retailers, only a small percentage of visitors typically purchase online, while the vast majority conduct Web research before visiting a local retailer to make a purchase.

"The primary reason we use Get It Near Me is the extraordinary value," says Tony Mitchell, Director of Purchasing at American Furniture Warehouse (AFW), a Top 30 U.S. furniture retailer. "We get at least three times as many clicks from Get It Near Me compared to what the same amount of money would net us on any other online advertising platform. It made sense to us, right from the get go.  You always want the most for your advertising dollars. So you're not just going to run those ads where they'll be seen, but also where they will matter to people who do see them."

More and more retailers agree, and they're driving significant growth for Get It Near Me. The program has increased its revenue over the past six months by more than 1,000 percent.  So far, more than 100 advertisers, beyond AFW, have signed up to use Get It Near Me, including Circle Furniture, Brashears Furniture, The Room Place, The Brick (Canada's No. 1 furniture retailer), Rotman's Furniture, Sit n' Sleep, and many more.  

"We believe we're all in this together as retailers," said John Mulliken, CSN's VP of Media & Strategic Initiatives. "Most consumers still want to buy from a local retailer, but they start their shopping with us month after month.  We don't want to stand in their way.  We want to help them find the right item and the right retailer for them, whether it be the best online retailer or an outstanding brick & mortar option in their neighborhood."

"As furniture retailers, our members know consumers are evolving to include the Web in their purchasing decisions," added Mike Herschel, Executive Director of FMG. "Knowing that CSN attracts a large number of active furniture shoppers to its sites each month, participating in this program is a great way to tap into that audience and help drive those consumers into our retailers' showrooms. Get It Near Me has demonstrated impressive success for a number of retailers – and we aim to share in those successes as the program continues to grow."

From single-location stores to regional mega-chains, all profiles of retailers that use Get It Near Me report a high ROI for the media.

"With this program, we get right in front of these consumers when they're shopping for the kinds of furniture that I sell," said Daniel Waldron, Marketing Manager for Dream Home Interiors. "I couldn't afford that kind of exposure with most other kinds of media."

Among the strongest evidence of Get It Near Me's unique effectiveness came from Nurun, a global interactive marketing agency representing one of America's largest furniture retailers.  Nurun ran a test of Get It Near Me media in July to assess its effectiveness in delivering qualified visitors to the retailer's site.  

According to Nurun's Atlanta-based team, "Get It Near Me delivered visitors who were 78.8 percent more engaged with the client site than visitors arriving via the other content networks, while also delivering an average click-through rate 41 percent greater than the other content networks."  

The results of the trial were strong enough to generate not just ongoing business, but a clear recommendation: "Nurun attributes the success of the test to Get It Near Me's highly-targeted content, and would recommend the platform to marketers targeting active furniture shoppers."

"As all of these testimonials show, we've been able to get off to a very strong start in just one year," said Mulliken. "As we look towards branching into other core categories such as lighting, plumbing, cookware and youth, the potential for growth is enormous. Not only are our advertisers seeing results, they also tell us that we are friendly, helpful, and easily accessible – which falls right in line with CSN Stores' charter of providing excellent customer service every day." 

For more information on the Get It Near Me program, go to www.getitnearme.com.

About CSN Stores

Founded in 2002, CSN Stores, www.csnstores.com, is comprised of 200+ online e-boutiques offering unparalleled selection, great customer service and significant savings. Based in Boston, Mass., CSN Stores offers more than 2 million products from 4,000 brands and serves customers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Germany. With annual sales of $300 million+, CSN is the largest, online-only retailer of furniture and home goods in the U.S., according to Internet Retailer. Select CSN Stores include: AllModern.com, Cookware.com, Strollers.com, Luggage.com, BedroomFurniture.com, CookwareByCSN.co.uk and many more.

SOURCE CSN Stores