Name of your website?Art and Home
Your name?
Paul
Your Location (city, etc)
Barrie
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Online home decor store serving the U.S. and Canada Art and Home works with various suppliers throughout the U.S. and Canada to provide over 4,000 stunning, unique home and garden decor products, including a huge selection of fine art tapestry wall hangings. Plus, as compared to other art retailers, Art and Home can save customers up to 30 - 50% off regular retail prices.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I love home decor, and after working with several of these suppliers, decided that it made sense to combine all of these products into one location, reduce overhead costs by selling online and bring these products to the consumer at the best possible price.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Art and Home has been online for just over 2 years.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
The primary focus of the site were Art products (Brushstrokes Fine Art and Fine Art Tapestries), and a few additional home decor products. Over time, that evolved to include more and more unique home decor products.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
The first would be that we are a family owned and run company. There are no impersonal call centre representatives to deal with, and we don't outsource our customer support overseas. When you're talking with someone at Art and Home, you're talking with part of a family.
The second would be our pricing. For example, compare the Abstract Autumn tapestry at Art.com (retailing for approx. $325.00) to the same tapestry at Art-and-Home.net (which retails for $189.00), you can see how Art-and-Home can save customers money.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Art-and-Home.net was built to last, and we plan on handing it down to the next generation of home decor retailers (our children).
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Art-and-Home.net is a labour of love, so part of it's success is just the fact that it exists.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
We are quite happy with the way Art-and-Home.net looks and functions, but - with an unlimited budget - I'm sure there are some things we could find that would be better.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes, we have a big family (4 kids, 8 neices and nephews) and they'd all pitch in to help.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Very little. We use a Store development program (ProStores) that has worked quite well for us.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Maintaining a 99.9% client satisfaction rating.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Word of mouth. Most of our customers are friends and/or family of other customers.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It's a lot more fun than I had originally thought it would be.
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?
Art-and-Home.net has been live for 2 years, and I expect it to be live for at least 20 more.
What is your favorite product line?
I love the Fine Art Tapestry Wall Hangings. There are so many to choose from, and they are so stunning... warm, rich, comforting and attractive. More than just art, they add a sense of warmth to a room. I've purchased quite a few for ourselves, and expect to buy more soon.
What is your website address?
Art and Home
No trackbacks.
Comments
