After more than five years as a privately held company, online retailer Ritz Interactive plans to go public within 12 months, CEO Fred Lerner tells InternetRetailer.com. Ritz figures now is the right time to consider a public offering because the company weathered the dot-com meltdown, learned how to run a profitable e-commerce franchise and diversified, he says.
The company, which operates 20 different e-commerce sites such as RitzCamera.com, BoatersWorld.com and Wolf Camera and has annual sales of about $100 million, is interviewing potential investment bankers, Lerner says. Ritz Interactive owns and operates 19 retail sites, including RitzCamera.com, WolfCamera.com, BoatersWorld.com and FishingOnly.com. "There has probably never been a better time file for an IPO," Lerner says. "The market is fairly valued and heading up."
Ritz Interactive’s growth strategy covers new outsourcing e-commerce services as well as its own direct retail sales. Its first outsourcing customer is Great White Shark Enterprises, which is owned and operated by professional golfer Greg Norman. Ritz handles marketing, fulfillment and customer service at Norman’s ShopatShark.com and related sites, the company says. Ritz adds that it is currently speaking with other retailers on possible outsourcing arrangements.
"With five years in business we know how to run an effective and profitable e-commerce operation," Lerner says. "Our merchandising strategy is the same as when the company was founded and that’s rooted in offering customers plenty of inventory to choose from, fair prices and excellent customer service." Rather than merely operating a chain of web stores, Ritz Interactive has built a business and merchandising model where each brand is treated as an online community, he adds.
To build sales and drive traffic to its various sites, Ritz Interactive enhances each of its online communities with topic specific content such as product reviews and special contests. To mark its fifth anniversary the company is giving away a $1,000 gift certificate each week for 52 weeks, letting shoppers redeem the certificates at several Ritz Interactive sites.
Ritz Interactive is a separate entity from the retail store chain Ritz Camera Centers Inc., though the two operate under a strategic alliance. Ritz Interactive’s camera sites provide store locators for directions to the nearly 1,300 Ritz Camera Centers, which will process exchanges of products purchased online from Ritz Interactive sites. David Ritz, the owner of Ritz Camera Centers, also serves as chairman of Ritz Interactive.
Back...
