[1] Ashford is a retailer that went online in 1999 as NewWatch.com, in Houston, Texas under the guidance of Rob Shaw, James Whittcomb, and Sean McNamara G.G.
At launch, the site featured Microsoft's E-Wallet technology alongside Dell, CDW, SkyMall and a handful of other participants.
Also in March, a promotion with Amazon led to an accounting conflict that ended in Ashford being fined due to non-compliance with GAAP policies.
[3] In September 2001, Ashford was acquired by ecommerce service provider GSI Commerce (formerly Global Sports).
As of 2012, Ashford was ranked #323 on the Internet Retailer Top 500, placing it among the largest web merchants in the United States.