Since soft launching in November 2022, HomeMakerCentral already has more than 10 big name brands on board including Barbeques Galore, Linen House Outlet and Ashley Furniture.
The digital shopping centre was launched by DecoRug founder, Bill Gremos, as an alternative to the traditional home living super centre.
“Retailers traditionally have to scramble and fight for online attention and usually in isolation,” he says.
“By putting the big players and trusted brand retailers together in one online platform the collective strength is a much better digital shopping experience.
“For customers, not only does it give them an abundance of choice, but it enhances their browser experience. The functionality and process are integrated―for example, they only have to check out and pay once despite buying from different stores.”
Ten Aussie bricks and mortar retailers have so far signed up with HomeMakerCentral, with double that expected by the end of next month.
“The stores have all the benefits of being together in the same digital precinct―it takes a lot of resources to do it alone.
“The coming together of individual stores brings the depth and breadth of a marketplace, which allows them to compete against online only or pure-play ecommerce vendors.”
NAB’s latest Online Retail Sales Index shows homewares and appliances top the list for Australians online spending making up 22 per cent of total sales, followed by department stores (16.8 per cent) then grocery and liquor (15.9 per cent).
Since its soft launch, retailers on HomeMakerCentral are already seeing an average order value of $600 per transaction.
“Despite the rising cost of living, we can see that Australians want to spend on furnishing their homes and the convenience of having some of their favourite retailers together in one online place,” Gremos adds.
