NetShops.com, an operator of niche e-commerce sites, has redesigned its web site to include a new universal shopping cart for purchases made at any of its 220 specialty sites. The company, whose web stores began with Hammocks.com in 2002 and include BunkBeds.com and Firepits.com, is rebranding itself Hayneedle.com as a one-stop location for home, work and leisure products, says chief marketing officer Ash ElDifrawi.

Over the last year we have done a lot of research and we found, first, that customers tend to shop by occasion or event, such as redesigning their backyard. They would shop at Hammocks.com but not realize we also had patio furniture and other related products, ElDifrawi tells Internet Retailer.

The research also showed that shoppers were not satisfied with the selection of specialized products available in physical stores. The reworked web site, now dubbed Hayneedle.com, is addressing those needs. The name reflects the retailer’s ability to showcase hard-to-find products. And new site features include a universal shopping cart enabling shoppers to buy from any site and check out on one page, and a navigation bar atop each page identifying any Hayneedle sites offering products related to the shopper’s current view. For example, upon opening Firepits.com, a horizontal navigation bar lists related stores selling such items as grills, torches, Adirondack chairs and fountains, to name a few.

The new site was developed and built internally over the past 18 months and launched today, ElDifrawi says.

The company wants new shoppers to see that Hayneedle has the best selection of products by category, but also an array of products to outfit the home, ElDifrawi says. We want them to understand they shouldn’t settle for a lack of variety in physical stores, and that we are not just a single store.

NetShops is No. 83 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.