Tropitone Furniture Company, Inc. announced today that it has launched a completely new Tropitone.com website. The new website was developed from the bottom up by a collaborative team that includes Schraff of Trabuco Canyon, CA, Ethos Solutions of Phoenix, AZ and Tropitone. Schraff has worked with Tropitone for 10 years on its digital marketing & sales platform. Ethos Solutions is new to the Tropitone team and emerged from a comprehensive search for complementary digital marketing & sales skills.

“Our old website served us well for many years,” said Walter Cornelison, Tropitone’s Director of Technology Services and Human Resources. “Tropitone was at the forefront of website platform technology when we created the old website and it has been meticulously improved and maintained over time. But we reached the point that we needed to utilize current state-of-the-art framework technology to create the features and benefits demanded by today’s users. The Drupal 7 Content Management System platform will also streamline continuous improvement of the new website.”

The Drupal 7 Content Management System platform provided Tropitone with the pathway to accomplish two of its primary user objectives with the new website: 1) separate portals for commercial and residential users: and 2) intuitive reductive navigation. “From a pure marketing communications perspective, we brought the look and feel of the website into complete alignment with the current market positions of the Tropitone®, Basta Sole® and Tropitone® MODA™ brands, ” said Demetrius Linebarger, Senior Manager for Digital Marketing for Tropitone. “But our overriding objective was to provide a website that users could navigate as easily, quickly and intuitively as possible. The first step was to create separate portals for commercial and residential users. Intuitive reductive navigation specifically designed for each user group takes over from there.”

Different user groups require different utilities from a website. Commercial sales representatives, designers, dealers and end users require a more straightforward navigation path. They are frequent users and want to get in, quickly find what they want and create presentable specifications. Consumers may come into the casual furnishings category every 5 years or so. Such infrequent users will want to browse and need to be lead around the website. Frequent residential users such as sales representative, designers and dealers are more like commercial users. They will find a more straightforward residential navigation path built specifically for them.

“We strongly believe that the casual furnishings industry is perfect for a combination of traditional and digital marketing & sales approaches,” said Tanya Stevens, Vice President of Marketing and Operations Services for Tropitone. “Traditional high-relationship brick & mortar showrooms create real value for end user customers. But they also utilize digital methods to make their purchase decisions. Our new website represents a critical improvement to the digital component of Tropitone’s omnipresence marketing & sales strategy. Our objective is to have a positive and persuasive presence whether customers use traditional or digital methods to make their decisions.”

The Tropitone® brand was originally established as a commercial brand in 1954 when car travel was starting to boom in the USA. As travelers became familiar with Tropitone® brand products at hotels and motels, they began asking where they could buy such comfortable, stylish and high quality products for their homes. Tropitone decided to fill that demand by offering products for sale at retail. Tropitone changed the performance standards for an entire industry by applying the rigorous product and service requirements of the highly-demanding commercial market to the residential market. The Company now has broad and deep portfolios of products specifically designed for each of the commercial and residential market segments, all with the same high performance standards.

Tropitone is headquartered in Irvine, CA and is recognized throughout the casual furniture marketplace for its product design leadership and commitment to high performance products & services. The International Casual Furnishings Association (ICFA) has named Tropitone Tubular Materials Manufacturer of the Year for three consecutive years. The ICFA also named the Company Manufacturer of the Year. URComfort® is the first outdoor seating to be endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). Commercial products are sold to multiple customer segments including hospitality, multi-housing, clubs and cruise ships. Consumer products are marketed through specialty retailers & designers. Products are marketed under the Tropitone®, Basta Sole® and Tropitone® MODA™ trademarks. The Company operates primary manufacturing facilities in Irvine, CA and Sarasota, FL.

For more information about the Company and the Tropitone® and Tropitone MODA™ brands, visit www.tropitone.com or www.tropitonemoda.com.