Growth Accompanies Office Move that Triples Corporate HQ Space
iSold It, the world's largest chain of eBay drop-off stores, today announced that its system-wide gross merchandise sales for the first quarter totaled $14.4 million, an increase of 265 percent from last year's first quarter sales. This sales growth was driven by national advertising, the resulting increase in same store sales and the addition of nearly 100 new iSold It franchise stores across the country. This tremendous first quarter growth accompanied a significant physical move for the company, as iSold It headquarters moved from its 7,000-square-foot Pasadena location to a much larger 15,000-square-foot building in Monrovia, Calif. This notable increase in sales and store figures is aligned with iSold It's accelerated growth strategy, which continues to build on iSold It's position as the number one seller on eBay and the leader in the emerging drop-off store category. Recent local and national advertising campaigns were influential in the company's dramatic growth, which has generated increased awareness of the ease of using iSold It drop-off locations. "Now more than ever, consumers and businesses are using drop-off stores such as iSold It and realizing how our service can benefit them financially," says Kenneth Sully, iSold It's president and CEO. "We're bridging the gap between brick-and-mortar retailing and internet retailing, then providing access for consumers to sell instead of buy. With our sales and physical growth, iSold It continues to lead the build-out of this new category." Since training "expert eBay sellers" is an important part of iSold It's continued success, the primary use for the new office space will be to expand the dedicated training facilities for iSold It franchisees. The new facilities will host a simulated store environment, photography and listing stations, and will be used in conjunction with the "iSold It University" training program required for all franchisees. "This is an exciting time for our company," says Sully. "Right now, for 2006, we're forecasting 300 stores to be open by the end of the year, with merchandise sales topping $100 million. And, we don't expect that momentum to stop." About iSold It iSold It offers its franchisees a turn-key program that makes it easy to open an iSold It drop-off store in their local community. The company hosts a proprietary software system that allows independent stores to easily interface with e-commerce sites, manage their inventory, create management reports and efficiently pay customers through a bulk-rate check payment system. In addition, iSold It helps franchisees secure store locations, orders and installs their turn-key 'store-in-a-box' build-out, provides training and support, and leads overall national and local marketing efforts. The concept for iSold It was created by Elise Wetzel as she was helping to fundraise for a new playground at her children's school. Elise recognized that auctioning donated items on eBay could be a powerful fundraising tool, especially if there were a service that helped make it easy. From this small idea for a school benefit came the foundation for iSold It -- providing an easy way for any person, business or organization to sell things online. Today, iSold It is the number one seller on eBay and is ranked by Entrepreneur magazine as the number one franchise in the emerging drop-off store category. iSold It currently has hundreds of franchise stores open nationwide, over 800 franchise stores sold, and is opening a new store on average every three days. iSold It is registered to sell franchises in 50 states. For more information, visit www.i-soldit.com or call 877-I-SOLD-IT. The new headquarters are located at 401 E. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, CA, 91016, and the new corporate Contacts For iSold It: Noelle Novak, 213-438-8789 Cell: 323-708-2680
[email protected] phone number is 626-739-9200. iSold It, LLC is a privately held company. Each iSold It store operates under a unique eBay ID. iSold It(R) and the iSold It logo are trademarks of iSold It, LLC