Hayneedle

Hayneedle, Inc.
Subsidiary of Jet.com
Industry eCommerce, Online shopping, Retail, Homewares, Furnishings
Founded 2002
Founder Doug Nielsen, Julie Mahloch, Mark Hasebroock
Headquarters Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Key people
 Jon Barker (President & CEO)
Products Indoor & outdoor home furnishings, accents & decor
Revenue $350,000,000
Number of employees
 500
Website hayneedle.com

Hayneedle is an online retail company based in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. The company operates hayneedle.com, an online specialty store with a focus on indoor and outdoor home furnishings and decor as well as furnishings available for commercial use. Hayneedle currently employs over 500 people in the Omaha Metro area, Monroe, Ohio, and Riverside, California.[1]

History

Hayneedle began in 2002 with a single store, Hammocks.com. Over the next few years, the company opened more online stores, each focused on one particular type of product, developing a portfolio of sites focused on indoor and outdoor home furnishings, accents, and decor. In 2005, the company unified under the name NetShops, and continued its category expansion. By acquiring Duluth, Minn.-based Thralow, Inc. in 2006, the company gained properties Telescopes.com and Binoculars.com, and underwent an internal restructuring.[2] 2007 saw another corporate restructuring, more niche website expansion, and the acquisition of GiftBaskets.com. By this time, NetShops had launched and operated hundreds of online specialty shops.

In 2009, the company rebranded as Hayneedle[2] and further expanded its selection to include more items focused in the areas of office, kitchen, bedding, pet supplies, lighting, home storage, and home improvement, among others.[3] The company's website, hayneedle.com, is now positioned as the place to find everything home for every room, style, and budget, and offers a wide array of products and categories in one online store. In the spring of 2014, all of the sites previously in operation under Hayneedle, Inc. were rolled into hayneedle.com.

On October 15, 2010, Hayneedle opened The Foundary, a website for limited-time sales of home products from designer brands. The site featured a limited-time, limited-quantity format, with 3 to 4 sales launching per day, each typically lasting 72 hours. The Foundary was a members-only website; membership was free. In 2013, The Foundary shifted emphasis and merged with Hayneedle to form the first Stylist in hayneedle.com's Style Gallery. The Style Gallery at hayneedle.com serves as a space for curated collections of furnishings and housewares focused on a number of different styles, each of which is categorized under a specific Stylist. Collections vary but many reflect current trends within the marketplace and are intended to provide a convenient shopping experience as well as inspiration.

Leadership and Changes

The current President and CEO of Hayneedle is Jon Barker, who, in 2014,[4] officially took over for Doug Nielsen, one of the original founders, along with partners Julie Mahloch and Mark Hasebroock.[5] Nielsen was at the helm from the company's inception until 2007, when Carter Cast, formerly of BlueNile and Walmart.com, served as CEO during the brand relaunch. The Hayneedle executive team expanded and changed throughout the brand transition from 2007 to 2009. In 2010 Nielsen and Cast exchanged roles, with Nielsen resuming control of day-to-day operations for all of Hayneedle.[6] In April 2014, it was announced that Jon Barker, formerly the Chief Operations Officer for Hayneedle, would be succeeding Nielsen as President and CEO.

Hayneedle has gone through a number of internal changes while keeping pace with business and economic climates, but has experienced double-digit growth over the course of its history. Hayneedle's Customer Care Center and photo studio are based in Omaha. Hayneedle currently operates two fulfillment centers – one in Monroe, Ohio,[7] and the other, which began operating in 2013, in Riverside, Calif. The company has hired over 100 people per year since 2010, currently employing over 500 people across its locations.

Hayneedle was previously privately held and funded by Insight Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. In March 2016, Hayneedle was acquired by the privately held American e-commerce company Jet (Jet.com), becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the retailer.[8][9] At present, Hayneedle continues to operate independently as hayneedle.com under the leadership of its current management team.

Ratings and Media

Hayneedle, as NetShops Inc., has been a Nebraska Better Business Bureau accredited business since 2002 and currently holds an "A+" rating with the BBB.[10] The BBB processed a total of 157 complaints about this company in the last 36 months (as of 12/28/15), the standard BBB reporting period. All of these complaints have been closed, including 30 in the last 12 months.[11]

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce named Hayneedle (then known as NetShops) one of "Omaha's Best Places to Work" in 2005 and 2006, and awarded Hayneedle the "Excellence in Business Award" in 2007 and 2008.

Internet Retailer's Top 500 list placed Hayneedle (as NetShops) at #104 based on online gross revenue in 2007, and in 2008 they named Hayneedle (as NetShops) the 15th largest mass merchant on the web based on total web sales, and the 82nd largest retailer. In 2007 and 2008, Internet Retailer Magazine named Hayneedle (as NetShops) one of their Top 100 best internet retailers.[12] Hayneedle ranked #69 in 2010, #77 in 2011, and #85 in 2012 on the magazine's Top 500 Internet Retailers list.[13]

Inc.com, the website for Inc. magazine, listed Hayneedle (as NetShops) at #13 on its "5,000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" list in 2006 and #154 in 2007. Hayneedle (as NetShops) also ranked at #5 for all online retail companies in 2007.

Hayneedle was named on Internet Retailer's Hot 100 list of online merchants in 2009.

In December 2013, both Internet Retailer and LightningBuy ranked hayneedle.com's mobile shopping experience, m.hayneedle.com, Number 2[14] on the List of Hot 100 E-Retailers for 2014 and Top 100 Online Retailers, respectively. Hayneedle is currently listed as #95 on Internet Retailer's list of the Top 500 Retailers.[15]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.