EUREKA BRIDGES GEOGRAPHIC GAP

EUREKA Street Furniture will launch a new online store and interior design blog before Christmas for customers in regional and interstate cities.

The Browns Plains-headquartered furniture retailer, which imports recycled materials from China, New Zealand and the UK, has sought the services of Brisbane-based web designers GO1 and search engine optimisers TPR Media.

Eureka executive officer Joel Brisblat says Christine Merritt has also been appointed online manager to update and maintain website content.

“She has reshot images and sourced measurements and product information. We are launching the online store in mid-November and the blog in December,” he says.

“We plan to put some sale items on eBay. I have been told by past customers that even second-hand Eureka furniture fetches a good price. We are also looking to partner up with an interior design company reflecting our Eureka flavour and high standard of work to add value to what we are doing. A strong online presence is preferable.”

Eureka’s website receives more than 30,000 hits each month, according to Brisblat. He says a recent customer survey shows there is high demand for online purchases.

“We get the largest number of hits from Brisbane and second largest from Sydney. We don’t plan to enter the Sydney market, but it’s definitely a gap in the market for customers who can’t come to the store due to geographical position,” says Brisblat.

“We also have a social media platform and received quite a lot of interaction – and most of it seemed to come from women. We ran
a competition via our Facebook page to win $200 in accessories. People interacted and we published the winners.”

A shift in key demographics of online shoppers has seen women aged between 25-35 with incomes above $70,000 now considered the most typical online consumer.

The high Australian dollar has made importing materials from overseas more economical, allowing Eureka to pass on an average 10 per cent saving to customers.

“The Emperor range is made from 200-year-old recycled wood from Beijing 2008 Olympic village doors in China. We are also getting doors from other parts of China,” he says.

“We have also made furniture out of timber recovered from the now demolished Coca-Cola factory in James Street, Brett’s Wharves and the Roma Street Rail Yards. Customers appreciate it – it’s like owning a piece of history.”

The Brisbane company employs around 90 staff and generated $18 million sales in the 2011 financial year. The result was a 13 per cent improvement on fiscal 2010.