Name of your website?Classic Clawfoot Tubs
Your name?
Brian Simmons
Your Location (city, etc)
Granite Bay
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Classic Clawfoot Tubs is an online retailer of vintage reproduction clawfoot bathtubs and antique style faucets and fixtures. We also offer other types of unique bathroom furniture such as hand-crafted copper, and wooden bathtubs.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
In recent years, there has been so much interest in home remodeling -- both with house flippers, and people simply wanting to renovate their own home into something more updated, or pleasing. We think that clawfoot style bathtubs are such a neat addition to any bathroom remodel because they instantly create a feeling of relaxation, and help transform your bathroom into more of a home "spa".
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Although I've launched many other websites dating as far back as 1995, we officially launched this website on December 1st, 2007. It had been operational for weeks before, but December was the offical date. Now even though this website is relatively new, we are working with established suppliers who have proven themselves in the industry as manufacturers of quality products. Offering quality products is mission critical for us.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
I think your name is potentially the biggest decision a company can make. It directly affects public impression of who you are, and what your values are. It plays an key role in a potential customer's "First impression". Many factors went into the decision of choosing our website's name. Ultimately, we wanted a name that would not only describe what we offer, but would also help promote the feeling and desires associated with clawfoot bathtubs. We think "Classic Clawfoot Tubs" gives a sense of history, stylistic design, and a feeling of relaxation (playing off the idea of 'slowing down time').
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
There are subtle differences all over, but there are a few main points that I belive set us apart. First, we really took a lot of time setting up the layout and flow of our website. We had looked around at many of the competitors out there and what we saw was a very haphazard, and confusing flow. We also noticed a large lack of good-sized pictures. We believe that good product images are critical in the buying process. When people are looking to choose a tub, or fixtures they are going to see every day -- they want to make sure that they are 100% pleased with the design BEFORE it arrives at their door. We want our customers to know exactly what they are ordering before they purchase it. Secondly, we setup our operation with an extremely high value on order processing speed. Many of the other websites we examined quoted shipping times of 4-6 weeks. In comparison, our orders generally ship out the same or next business day, and take about 4 or 5 days to arrive. Far better than the 4 to 6 week alternatives. Lastly, we have made the best effort possible in setting our prices as competitive as possible. We feel confident that our website visitors will find out prices extremely low in comparison to our competitors, and then to top off our offer with a nice juicy "cherry on top", we also offer free shipping on all orders regardless of size. Yes, even heavy cast-iron bathtubs are shipped for free.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Our eventual goal is to grow our business into one of the leading sources online for stylish bathroom fixtures, and furniture. We plan on expanding into pedistal sinks, toilets, and other appealing bathroom products.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We will see how that one works out won't we? Of course, there's never enough time in the day to get everything done that we'd like. There's also plenty of places to spend advertising dollars on. For now, we're trying to balance our time and finances by focusing our efforts on contacting media outlets and bloggers to create an awareness.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I suppose the idea of a personal assitant would be nice. Someone to help a customer through the process of choosing their items. This would ensure that all the parts matched together correctly, so that the customer wouldn't have any uncertainty about if they were getting the correct hardware for their installation.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, we could. In our development stage, we spent a lot of time on making sure that this would not be a problem. We designed our internal processes around efficiency and quickness. We tried to identify any potential "bottlenecks" in our operation, and figure out solutions to them before they ever became an issue. The only limitations I see right now, would be if for some reason our suppliers had their own problems that took place at the same time. But I suppose, that's the same in any business.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The main headaches we've encountered were website development delays. It's extremely hard to accurately budget how long a development project is going to take. You can only give a best estimate of each part and then add it together. My experience has taught me that doubling the final time estimate comes out close, but this project still overshot the time estimate by about 3 weeks. All-in-all, 3 weeks is quite acceptable in my opinion.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Finishing all of the details. There were a million of them.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Since our launch date isn't too far past yet, I can't accurately answer that question yet. We've got our suspicions about what methods we think will work best, but they haven't quite proven themselves yet.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Well, so far things have proceeded pretty much on track. As I stated earlier, I've been involved with creating websites since 1995, so I've developed a pretty clear understanding of what's involved.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The website has been up for around a month now, with its official launch at the beginning of this month, so the traffic pattern is just getting started. I have no plans to sell it if the traffic and customers don't come pouring in, however I don't think that will be a problem. To me, business is all about competing, so if we provide great products at great prices, and make it easy and pleasant to shop with us -- we know that word will get out. Recommendations and word of mouth referrals will continue to grow.
What is your website address?
Classic Clawfoot Tubs
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