Surya teams with MicroD to enhance online furniture shopping

Accessory packages to be unveiled at High Point Market

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 10/7/2010 1:17:50 PM

Charlotte, NC — MicroD Incorporated has formed a strategic alliance with rug and accessories manufacturer Surya, Inc., to redefine the online furniture and home furnishings shopping experience.

The collaboration will enable hundreds of leading furniture retailers to automatically present consumers with Surya rugs, pillows, throws and fine art packages that have been designer-matched to expertly coordinate with upholstered furniture items viewed by online shoppers.

The addition of more than 5,000 Surya products to the MicroD ePreVue^TM online presentation and business intelligence solution promises to provide furniture marketers with breakthrough new online merchandising capabilities that will empower consumers to better design, coordinate and visualize their own rooms through the convenience of the internet. The new solution will be unveiled in the Surya showroom at the October 16-21 High Point Market with demonstrations of accessory packages coordinated with Klaussner upholstery.

The companies are also working to launch the advanced merchandising solution based on La-Z-Boy, Best Home, Craftmaster, England, upholstery options in MicroD's ePreVue system in the coming months while Klaussner's is immediately available.

"As more and more consumers look to the Internet to streamline their furniture search, these important new merchandising capabilities will give savvy furniture marketers a significant advantage in inspiring consumers over those with traditional online catalogs," MicroD Senior Vice President Steven McLendon said. "Providing consumers with professionally designed and coordinated accessory options saves them time and instills confidence in their purchases. This represents the next-generation of online furniture merchandising and shopping all in one."

The integration of Surya products into MicroD customer Websites goes far beyond the simple addition of additional product catalogs. Furniture marketers will now be able to proactively merchandise coordinating Surya accessories based on specific furniture selections made by online shoppers. Shoppers will benefit from the professional design expertise and assistance built-in to the websites that will enable them to assemble entire rooms that adhere to professional design best-practices.

"The partnership between Surya and MicroD simplifies the difficult task of coordinating accessories with top-selling upholstery items," said Satya Tiwari, president of Surya Inc. "Our talented designers have spent countless hours working with top fabrics to create the perfect accessory packages. With our new merchandised selections and the opportunity to better leverage online showrooms, Surya and MicroD continue a tradition of exceeding customer expectations by helping them to increase margins."

Surya currently exhibits in Atlanta, High Point, Las Vegas, New Delhi and New York. For more information, visit http://www.surya.com.

MicroD is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C. and maintains offices in Hickory, N.C. and Atlanta, Ga. For more information, visit http://www.microdinc.com.