Established web retailers are finding that more high-end manufacturers are now seeking them out and wooing them to be their next online retailing channel. A case in point is BabyUniverse.com, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., web retailer that sells more than 65,000 products to families with new-born infantw or young children.
In business since 1997, BabyUniverse.com now has marketing and sales relationships with about 150 manufacturers. But in the past year company founder and CEO Stuart Goffman says a number of new high-end manufacturers such as Silver Cross Baby Inc., a maker of baby strollers and other products, are approaching BabyUniverse.com about selling their products online.
The result is helping BabyUniverse diversify its merchandise base and sell more products to a growing demographic: upscale families who don’t mind spending more for higher-end products, including $15,000 outdoor play sets.
“Now that we are very established we have the high-end manufacturers calling on us,” Goffman says. “It’s helping us expand into new product lines and broaden our customer base.”
New higher-end products and relationships with manufacturers are helping BabyUniverse.com become a leading Internet destination for new and expectant parents and their friends and family who want a one-stop online store for all of the products necessary for pregnancy, babies and toddlers, Goffman says.
“These new relationships are helping us to expand,” he says.
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