Home Improvement Enthusiasts Can Power Up With CornerHardware.com For All Summer Project Needs

Market Wire, 20050229

While some Americans will take to the highways this summer for their vacation, many others will use their time off to take on home improvement projects. With CornerHardware.com, www.cornerhardware.com, do-it-yourselfers can get valuable advice, find easy-to-follow "How-To" instructions, and compare and purchase products - even in the wee hours of the morning, because someone's always minding the store.

Aleading online resource for home improvement enthusiasts, CornerHardware.com marries the friendly and knowledgeable service of the old-fashioned neighborhood corner hardware store with the broad selection and convenience of the Internet. Recently recognized by eRetailNews and analyst firm Gómez Advisors, CornerHardware.com brings everything together for its audience: real-time advice, around-the-clock customer care, engaging original content and detailed "How-To" projects, community support and all the merchandise needed to complete home improvement projects.

"CornerHardware.com has placed customers at the center of our business andcreated a site to meet their every home improvement interest and need," said Alice Hill, CornerHardware.com's executive vice president/executive producer and former vice president of development at CNET, Inc. "As part of our goal to provide outstanding customer care, we're committed to coaching our customers through all aspects of their home improvement projects, helping them as much or as little as they need. We believe when you 'do-it-yourself,' you don't really have to 'do-it-alone.'"

Unique Site Attributes

With the help of customer feedback, CornerHardware.com continues to enhanceits complete and well-organized site for the do-it-yourself community.

Recent developments and popular site features include:

"Tool Adviser." When customers need to find the right tool for the job, they can turn to CornerHardware.com's handy automated "Tool Adviser." "Tool Adviser" surveys customers about their product needs and uses, and then recommends the ideal product. CornerHardware.com is the first home improvement Web site to offer this functionality for all of the power toolsit sells.

Unique "Timesaver" pages and original content. To help customers easily navigate the site, CornerHardware.com is organized by main content areas, such as "Repair," "Improve" and "What's New," as well as traditional departments, including "Power Tools," "Lawn and Garden" and others. New "Timesaver" pages aggregate products around special interest topics, such as "New Homeowners" or "Kids & Pets Survival Guide." Written by a dedicated CornerHardware.com editorial team, content also includes entertaining articles, tips and "Buyer's Guides."

Throughout the site, content and commerce are integrated to help customers streamline their information gathering and shopping experience. For example, a pop-up "Shopping Cart" helps customers select products without leaving the content area they're viewing. Also, all of the step-by-step "How-To" articles list the products needed for the project and make it easy to purchase these items on the spot. Other ease-of-navigation features include shortcut links under the "Search" box, which allow customers to bypass searching and go to content and products in one click.

24/7 customer care, including instant online chats. When customers want advice before beginning a project or when a question arises, they have 24/7 instant counsel, at no cost, from CornerHardware.com's home improvementspecialists. Real-time online chats allow customers to ask for expertadvice from dedicated home improvement professionals, including plumbers,electricians and contractors. Customers also can reach specialists viae-mail at customerservice@cornerhardware.com or a toll-free telephone call at 1 (800) 361-1787.

Extensive merchandise selection. Customers can find everything they need for their projects in CornerHardware.com's broad and deep, competitively priced product selection. The Web site offers nearly 37,000 items, in categories such as "Power Tools," "Hand Tools," "Hardware," "Lighting," "Plumbing," "Paint and Supplies," "Lawn and Garden," "Electrical," "Heating and Cooling," "Kitchen and Bath," and "Housewares and Decor." CornerHardware.com's "shelves" will eventually hold 75,000 products.

Recognition recently honored CornerHardware.com as part of its first Commerce Cubed, or C3, awards for Internet retailing sites with a strong commitment to customer retention, which includes customer care, content and community. CornerHardware.com received the Five Star Site award for itsbalanced execution of all three components of a C3 strategy, as well as a Five Star Content award and Five Star Care award. Other Web sites recognized include LandsEnd.com and 1800Flowers.com.

In addition to eRetailNews, e-commerce analyst firm Gómez Advisors recentlyranked CornerHardware.com high in its inaugural Home Improvement Scorecard,which highlights the best in online home improvement. CornerHardware.comtook the number one slot in the categories of Customer Confidence, On-SiteResources and Weekend Warrior.