BuildDirect Unveils Home Marketplace

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - February 10, 2016) -  BuildDirect, a technology company transforming the home improvement industry, today announced the launch of its online platform, Home Marketplace. Taking more than a year to build, Home Marketplace is designed to provide a seamless renovation experience by assisting homeowners at every stage of their remodel -- from planning and design, to selection of products, through home delivery. For suppliers, the platform provides a direct link to consumers, allowing them to connect the right goods with demand in a highly efficient manner.

"The $500 billion home improvement industry has been lacking innovation for too long, but today as Home Marketplace officially launches, BuildDirect can perfectly showcase our vision for change," said BuildDirect co-founder, president & CEO, Jeff Booth. "Home Marketplace marks an important milestone in our mission to create the world's simplest and most trusted solution for home improvement. We are delighted to make it available to millions of homeowners and suppliers."

Results from a recent survey of renovators commissioned by BuildDirect showed that while 93 percent agree that completing a home renovation was one of the most satisfying feelings, over half found the process more difficult than they expected. Challenges around price, selection, and time were the most common issues faced. In fact, during the renovation process three out of five renovators visited three or more different stores, with 34 percent making 10 or more separate trips. In addition, nearly half chose different products from what they originally wanted because of price.

"Next year, nearly three quarters of renovators will likely start another project, with 41 percent looking for more product variety at a lower price," added Booth. "I am thrilled that our technology will address these pain points and more."

Home Marketplace offers homeowners:

• Unbeatable selection at the best value. To combat the widespread industry problem of limited product selection due to a lack of shelf space at traditional retailers, Home Marketplace will open homeowner searches to an infinite number of products. Because the new platform connects homeowners directly with the suppliers of home improvement products, costs stay low, often up to half the price found at big box stores. To support the online offering, BuildDirect offers up to five free product samples shipped overnight with doorstep delivery. All orders are backed with a 30-day money back guarantee.
• Efficient delivery. BuildDirect built a highly efficient heavyweight supply chain to overcome the industry's slow and unreliable delivery standard. As a result, Home Marketplace makes receiving heavyweight goods at a home or project site as easy as ordering a book. Delivery is predictable, accurate, and cost-effective for customers.
• Best-in-class support. With access to free virtual design tools, Home Marketplace will empower homeowners to plan their spaces exactly as they desire. It also connects homeowners with a customer support team that can assist them at every step of their home improvement journey.

"With BuildDirect I can simply go online and with the click of a button, find what I'm looking for, get the information I need, compare products with their reviews side-by side, and trust that purchases will arrive on time and in good condition," said BuildDirect customer Rajan Sodhi. "It has completely transformed my remodeling experience."

For suppliers, Home Marketplace offers:

• Seller portal. To help suppliers reach broader audiences, Home Marketplace gives them a self-service tool they can control to showcase an unlimited number of products directly to homeowners without going through a major retailer.
• Data-driven decisions. Home Marketplace integrates the industry's best predictive analytics model to provide forward-looking data to suppliers. The models allow suppliers to use three proprietary tools -- BuildDirect Demand Rank, BuildDirect Product Rank, and BuildDirect Inventory Rank -- to identify consumer interest in their product, that product's competitiveness in the marketplace, and the locations it will best perform. All of this is done in real-time and is 100 percent up to date.
• Simple freight. Home Marketplace reduces freight costs and overcomes shipping complexities by leveraging technology and a competitive bidding process to calculate the most efficient and cost-effective delivery methods to get products from the manufacturing location to the customer's home.

"BuildDirect has introduced something of real value with Home Marketplace," said Stephen Staikos, General Manager, National Strategic Accounts, North American Flooring at Armstrong World Industries. "Through the new platform, we can control our inventory, understand where demand for our product is, and ultimately better serve our customer."

To experience Home Marketplace please visit builddirect.com.

About BuildDirect

BuildDirect is the world's largest online marketplace for heavyweight home improvement products. The company has transformed how homeowners access and purchase home improvement products by building the only online marketplace that offers the widest selection of products at the best value, direct-to-home shipping, free virtual design tools and best-in-class customer service. Suppliers are able to leverage the marketplace to showcase and sell their home improvement products directly to consumers, helping homeowners get a simple and more trusted online shopping experience.

BuildDirect is recognized for building the world's first supply chain for shipping heavy goods directly to homeowners' doorsteps.

BuildDirect is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, visit our website at BuildDirect.com or join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Suppliers can visit BuildDirect.com/seller to sign up.

About the survey

From December 7^th to December 13^th, 2015 an online survey was conducted among 1,000 randomly selected American homeowners age 18+ who have recently, or soon plan to, renovate their homes and who are also Vision Critical American Community members. The margin of error -- which measures sampling variability -- for a random sample this size would be +/-4%, 19 times out of 20. The sample outgo was balanced by age, gender, and region to reflect homeowners in America. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

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