Horchow.com heats up

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 2/21/2003 4:45:00 PM

Dallas — Horchow's six-month-old web business already accounts for nearly 20 percent of total revenue, and has also enabled the cataloger to expand into new categories and assortments, including window next month.

Horchow.com had a soft launch in late summer 2002 and was promoted more heavily during the fall. "We didn't expect sales to be so high so quickly," adding that he didn't know what the leveling point would be," said Michael Crotty, vp, marketing, Neiman Marcus Online, which is also responsible for NeimanMarcus.com and ChefsCatalog.com. "For the first time, the site is the equivalent to a Horchow store."

Home textiles are a significant portion of on-line merchandise, and along with furniture make up a large chunk of the assortment. Horchow's free monogramming of sheets and towels — "a point of differentiation" — has also been extended to its site.