Keene Gets Posh

Americans spent an estimated $303 billion on home improvement in 2014, according to the Home Improvement Research Institute, and that number is expected to grow another 5.8 percent this year. PoshHaus.com in Keene, an online retailer of high-end home items at what it claims are reduced prices, is grabbing some of those dollars.

The company, which says it has annual sales in the seven digits, grew 500 percent between 2012 and 2014. “We are consistently adding new brands and new categories,” says President Robert M. Paris of the more than 60,000 items it sells. PoshHaus.com’s offerings include everything from sinks and toilets to furniture to hot water heaters and refrigerators.

The online business plans to open a bricks and mortar showroom by the end of the year. Less than 10 percent of business is generated in NH, but 40 percent is from New England. “We often have customers from Boston and different areas that want to come up and visit. And for our area it is going to be a resource because we don’t have really anything like that in Keene right now,” Parisi says, adding there is only one large home improvement chain in the area.

Some of the popular items that PoshHaus sells are kitchen sinks, bathtubs, fans and lighting. It also carries many high-end items to meet customers’ specific needs such as heated towel racks and toilet seats, and steam showers.

While facing stiff competition from other online retailers, the company differentiates itself by focusing on customer service. The website has customer chats and online messaging that customers use to communicate directly with company workers to help them find the exact products they are looking for.

PoshHaus, which has four employees, has an average response time of 15 minutes for emails seven days a week from 5 a.m. to midnight. “Within the industry what we see is about 12 to 24 hours so we try to make that 10 to 15 minutes.”

For more information, visit PoshHaus.com

By Brian Clemmenson of the Young Reporters Project, a partnership between Business NH Magazine and Keene State College.