Ritz Interactive Named to Internet Retailer's 2009 Hot 100 Best Retail Web Sites

IRVINE, CA., December 4, 2008, – Ritz Interactive, Inc., the e-commerce network that includes RitzCamera.com, WolfCamera.com, BoatersWorld.com and other leading online-shopping sites have been named to Internet Retailer’s 2009 Hot 100 Best Retail Web Sites.

The Internet Retailer's Hot 100 Web Sites offer many lessons on how to inspire, inform and serve web site shoppers, and also how to reach out beyond ecommerce sites to connect with consumers. The Hot 100 Web Sites were chosen for their innovations that go beyond the primary web site and their performance metrics which include response time, site availability and consistency.

According to Ritz Interactive president and CEO Fred H. Lerner, “We have a very straightforward philosophy; we present our customers with options. This stretches from payment options; whether it is credit cards, Google Checkout, PayPal or Bill Me Later, or choices in navigation methods and customer service.” “We’re all about convenience to our customers.”

The company pays a lot of attention to providing reviews. “The reviews are excellent,” says Mark Lee, principal at consulting firm The Mark Lee Group. “First, there’s the company’s thorough review. Next, a summary chart of the objective rating by all customers.” He also likes that the site displays the percentage of reviewers in various categories, such as “Getting Started,” “Casual Photographer,” and “Professional.”

The reviews and ratings, powered by PowerReviews, are so helpful that Ritz Interactive has begun promoting a product’s rating before the visitor even gets to a product page. For example, when a popular item is featured on the RitzCamera.com home page, a high rating is listed directly below the image. “It’s one of the most desirable features on the site,” commented president and CEO Fred Lerner. “People like to buy what other people like.”

The Ritz Interactive web sites also provide several other ways visitors can obtain information about a product, including major manufacturer showcases, videos and live chat.

About Ritz Interactive, Inc.
Ritz Interactive is an award-winning, specialty online retailer and e-commerce service provider that operates a network of websites offering high quality, branded lifestyle products. Since its inception in Irvine, California in 1999, the company has become a leader in providing a full selection of photographic and consumer electronics products as well as a wide range of marine, boating and fishing products, at competitive prices for online shoppers. Ritz Interactive’s leading photo-specialty and consumer electronics e-commerce websites are RitzCamera.com and WolfCamera.com, while the company’s leading marine e-commerce website is BoatersWorld.com. Each of the individually branded and marketed websites offers a broad and deep selection of competitively priced products and brings an established brick-and-mortar reputation to the company’s e-commerce platform.

About Internet Retailer
Published by Chicago-based Vertical Web Media LLC, Internet Retailer is a monthly national business magazine, web site, conference and directory that serve the retailing community. The Internet Retailer family of products focuses on the Internet's vital role in a wide array of retailing activities, including web merchandising, supply chain management and multi-channel integration. Its 40,000+ subscribers are senior executives primarily from retail chains, independent stores, catalogs, virtual merchants and brand-name manufacturers. Internet Retailer's circulation represents the largest multi-channel readership base of any retailing magazine. The magazine also publishes the most widely read e-mail newsletter in retailing, IRNewsLink, which is distributed twice-weekly to 35,000 opt-in subscribers, operates the largest retailing information web site, InternetRetailer.com, sponsors the largest conference in the e-retailing industry and publishes an annual ranking of the Hot 100 Best Retail Web Sites and the 500 largest web sites.