5rooms.com an online home and living store aims to offer South Africans “˜the largest online selection of furniture in South Africa, covering all price segments and categories‘.
Since first launching in April, the site has seen an overwhelmingly positive response from suppliers and shoppers, that has encouraged the company to grow its product offering from 1, 300 to 10, 000 by Spring 2012. With the variety of products on offer, safe payment options and efficient delivery and return services, 5rooms aims to provide a world class online shopping experience.
The 5rooms founders include Sean Weldon, a local furniture guru; Emilian Popa, co-founder of Groupon South Africa; Nireshni Naidoo, a local e-commerce veteran and Tiffany Hopkins, a business intelligence expert. These individuals saw a gap in the market and collectively envisioned a way for local suppliers to expand their footprint and for international designers to explore one of South Africa’s fastest growing markets while bringing South Africans a safe, convenient and affordable experience.
Weldon comments that “We consider it imperative that customers engage with the 5rooms personality. That they connect with the culture behind the brand.”
5rooms offers customers 24 hour access to 48 international and local brands including furniture, homeware, lighting, accessories, appliances and gardening and includes local brands Dark Horse, Carrol Boyes and Liam Mooney, alongside internationals including Dauphin, Saeco and Joseph Joseph. Each product on the site offers high-quality images, detailed descriptions and an estimated time of delivery period.
5rooms is also part of a network comprising of more than 10 home and living sites including Home24.de and Zanui.com.au.
Once added to your basket and purchased with a secure payment facility, 5rooms will deliver your goods for free anywhere in the country. 5rooms will also supply a tracking number so you can follow your order and if you’ve changed your mind about your purchase the company offers a flexible return and exchange option.
Because shopping online is still a relatively new concept in South Africa in comparison to the U.S. and Europe, 5rooms also offers a cash on deliver payment option for those who do not have a credit card or would prefer to not use it online.
To ensure it continues to maintain a competitive edge, 5rooms closely and continually examines where they can improve on their customers’ shopping experience on all levels from product availability and purhcasing to delivery and returns options.
