Online Specialty Furniture and Lighting Retailer Looks to Magento for a Customized Solution Capable of Supporting Dozens of Lifestyle-Specific Microsites
Concord, NC (PRWEB) June 04, 2012
Carolina Rustica (http://www.carolinarustica.com), a specialty home furnishings and lighting retailer, announced today that steady business growth has prompted the company to re-launch its e-commerce store on a highly configurable platform. Carolina Rustica is now using a customized platform from Magento to keep up with steady growth in visitors to its online storefront, and is also anticipating the launch of several new lifestyle-specific microsites, each one designed to sell specific types of products geared towards particular design styles and motifs.
“We are incredibly excited about extending our brand in a more targeted way to consumers around the country, and delivering a much faster, more streamlined online shopping experience,” said Richard Sexton, president and founder of the 12-year old company. “The upscale design, easy navigation, and extensive categories will make for quicker item selection, easier checkout and more satisfied buyers.”
Carolina Rustica is a high-end furniture and lighting retailer that operates both a website and several retail galleries in Concord, NC. The company has 15 employees and has been in business since 2000, maintaining an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau.
The company collaborated with several technology consultants and ultimately selected Magento, which is an open source e-commerce suite of products owned by Ebay.
“We love the flexibility in design and functionality provided by Magento,” said Chris Knollmeyer, website/IS manager for Carolina Rustica. “The ability to create thematic microsites is also a huge plus, since we have many different product styles in our 75,000-product catalog. With Magento, we will be able to build a family of high-quality, highly targeted sites that meet the sophisticated shopping needs of our customers.”
Knollmeyer added that a lighting site would most likely be the first spin-off from the core site – crlighting.com. The new microsites being offered by Carolina Rustica include crmodernhome.com, croutdoorfurniture.com, crhomeofficefurniture.com and crkidsroom.com, a combination of style and functional-oriented sites.
“Our sales have been up 40% over the last three years, and traffic numbers online continue to increase. We knew taking our online store to the next level was critical,” said Sexton. “One of the things customers like most about us is our service-oriented approach, and we want to ensure that site visitors always have the best experience when shopping our stores – whether online or brick and mortar. This new platform will help us make that happen.”
About Carolina Rustica Inc :: Richard Sexton established Carolina Rustica in 2000 as an outgrowth of his retail store in Charlotte, NC. The company has grown ever since, adding new high-end lighting and furniture manufacturers to both its retail store operations and its website. The company is an Internet Retailer “Second 500” ranked company by sales. Mr. Sexton is frequently featured as an example of small business success using the internet, and speaks to the design, furniture, and internet trade on advertising and social media strategies. To learn more about Carolina Rustica, please go to http://www.CarolinaRustica.com, find them on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/carolinarustica, view their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CarolinaRusticaStore, or visit their Google+ page at https://plus.google.com/109778129519392476251/posts.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebcarolina_rustica/06-12/prweb9570744.htm
