The acquisition earlier this week of kitchen supply site Tavolo by OurHouse is the latest step in the e-commerce site's identity makeover.

OurHouse, backed by a 20 percent ownership stake from Ace Hardware (dossier), launched more than a year ago, billing itself as an upscale — and online — version of the corner hardware store. Much to the company's surprise, more women visited the site than did the anticipated target audience of men, a trend that prompted the marketing face-lift.

"We launched as a home improvement site and expected our traffic [about 3.6 million unique visitors a month, according to Media Metrix] to be 55 percent male," says OurHouse Chief Marketing Officer Gary Briggs. "It's turned out to be about 60 percent female."

Accordingly, the site now stocks fewer power tools and more "home service" items, such as appliances and decor. The Tavolo acquisition, for which OurHouse is giving up 15 percent of its privately held shares, will allow the company to increase its line of cooking and dining ware from 30,000 to 40,000 products.

OurHouse also is adjusting its marketing efforts to make them more female-oriented. The company dropped the title sponsorship of the Jan. 1 Florida Citrus Bowl, for example, even though it still will advertise during the football game, with a new ad that was shot just this week. Citrus Bowl broadcaster ABC (dossier) put pressure on OurHouse to remain a presenting sponsor of the game, but OurHouse chose instead to advertise across a range of ABC/Disney media properties "that won't skew quite as heavily male as college football."

OurHouse has not been immune to the budget constraints now facing many Internet retailers. The company's TV advertising expenditures will drop from more than $10 million during the year following the site's launch to less than $5 million for the upcoming year. As for the future, OurHouse's newly forged ties to The Rosie O'Donnell Show and the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity International (dossier) are an indication of where the site's marketing is headed.