Jessitt-Gold: Targets $4 Billion Custom Window Market Online
August 29, 2005
NEW YORK, New York — Jessitt-Gold Interiors, a two-year-old Corona, California-based direct sales catalog and online business developed exclusively for interior designers has tapped into a $4 billion custom window treatment and accessories market that's been virtually ignored by the majority of U.S. jobbers.
According to Mary Shanahan, vice president of marketing, "Based on emerging market trends, we've developed offerings specifically for the high-end market. We're taking an aggressive approach and seeing increases of 85-100 percent per year." At that rate, JG has the potential to be one of the largest fabric wholesalers in the world. And while this niche appears very labor intensive, Jessitt-Gold learned the art of quick turnaround from parent company, Smith + Noble, the direct-to-consumer window treatment catalog company owned by the Cornerstone group.
''This field is incredibly fertile and growing rapidly," said John Hoven, vice president of business development, who learned about marketing and customer service at Service Master Home Services and other major window treatment manufacturers. ''We are gearing up to be a big player in the high-end custom window and related market, and are branching out into ancillary areas including custom carpets, top-of-bed and duvets, plus accessories like upholstered headboards, bar stools, upholstered dining room chairs and small furniture items...."
Hoven was responsible for overseeing the Smith + Noble sales and service department and realized that although they were selling directly to consumers, an interesting side business was emerging, consisting of interior designers that were approaching them for solutions. With management's blessing and Shanahan, he formed a small group of specialists to cater to the market: Cindy O'Reilly, product development manager and David Fruge, vice president of creative. They have major backing from Jonathan Bernstein, president of the two divisions, and Stephen Hall, vice president of merchandising. These are alumnus of Coach, Procter & Gamble, Pottery Barn, Horchow, Neiman Marcus and Disney Direct, as well as the worlds of commercial, contract and hospitality design.
Hoven tracked the genesis of the division: ''Designers were coming to us with their design needs. We listened and took action. As relationships grew, we realized we had created something special and unusual. We decided to form a partnership with the designers, offering a one-stop shopping experience that would help them grow their business.'' O'Reilly traces the process from product development team to merchants traveling to trade shows throughout the world.
''John wanted to offer world class customer service, diverse product lines, quality and quick turnaround, along with a small boutique feel and mentality. We already knew how to produce a high-quality product quickly," she said, "so we started to develop product specifically for the designers. We held focus groups on both coasts, analyzed the responses and began to put their requests in motion. Thanks to them we have been able to continuously improve our offering, lead time, levels of service, presentation and price structure. We envisioned a custom boutique in Soho or London, offering custom window treatments and unique, customizable home décor.
We thought about the person and team who would be running this boutique and created a brand name that evoked a feeling of high design. Jessitt-Gold is the designer in all of us. For the interior designer, we are the personal custom workroom, boutique and design house all in one." The fabric-by-the-yard category started out strong from the beginning.
''Often interior designers will do their curtains with us and want to re-upholster a settee or even just a pillow or lamp shade in the room with a touch of the same fabric," said O'Reilly. "We have several factories throughout the U.S. that are true partners doing private label products for us." Hoven points out that Jessitt-Gold continues to register an average of 500 designers per month online. Payment is preformed by check and credit card. And while registration is free, there is an extensive process to establish accreditation.
This latter point is a key point of difference between Jessitt-Gold and its sister company, Smith + Noble—it sells exclusively to interior designers who must be vetted in an extensive membership registration process that nets them 15 percent off list prices. The focus is on high-end fabrics by the yard as well as in finished goods. And while their first two years were like a stealth mission, Hoven, O'Reilly and Fruge travel widely to develop sources. F&FI met the team at Proposte in the Desalux showroom, but they cover all of the important shows both here and abroad. They work with domestic mills as well as Asian and European, including Belgium for linens and Germany for high-tech constructions. "We come back to the company with ideas and a plan of action for the following year,'' said O'Reilly.
The company is dedicated to developing long-term relationships with the designers. ''The b2b business requires commitment and longevity on both sides," said Hoven. "We are one-stop shopping for the designer...instant gratification for their clients...a workroom in a catalog and website. We don't know of anyone else out there who does this. In addition to producing a unique high-quality and fashion-forward offering, our product is priced right and made faster than most custom workrooms. We source from all over. We belong to trend associations, attend trade shows and stay abreast of the most current home trends so that we can deliver the most current product assortments to the designers. We sell to the trade only and provide price and specification lists and a coffee table book."
JG is proud of its catalog and ancillary materials. "The specifications booklet is a separate piece that doesn't need to be shown to the ultimate customer, allowing the designer to add markup. We anticipate changing our structure to net pricing pretty soon. But our pricing is very competitive to top workrooms...of course, they can't meet our turnaround time for finished product. We can produce a window treatment start to finish in a week or less," said Hoven.
Despite the business explosion experienced by Jessitt-Gold since its inception, the management feels it hasn't even scratched the surface. "The huge numbers of designers we are signing up monthly tend to be fairly local and they are hungry for the trend newsletters we provide," said O'Reilly. "They look to us for world-class information...they want to be first in their markets with the latest style and color information. The speed of our turnaround is most important to them. Their clients want product right away, yet local workrooms can't turn around quickly...they need 8 to 10 weeks and the customer doesn't have the patience to wait that long.'' In the course of fulfilling these needs for the design customer, the company is simultaneously building a huge database of members to whom they send weekly trend information.
While the emphasis right now is on the residential design market, the company has begun to expand its horizons to commercial and hospitality markets, working with designers and specifiers that specialize in those areas. It has already completed some smaller hospitality projects and anticipates growing at a rate that will outpace the industry.
"We won't try to be the cheapest solution, just the highest quality, highest fashion and greatest value for the money," said O'Reilly.
All of this is good news for mills and specifiers, and should provide new impetus for the competitive wholesale market that's been searching for fresh ideas for several years. Jessitt-Gold has discovered the mother lode.
Jessitt Gold and its parent company Smith+Noble are divisions of the $820 million Cornerstone Group, headed by John Schaefer. It was recently acquired by IAC Electronic Retailing headed by Thomas McInerney, which also owns HSN, America's Store Shopping Network, HSE24 TUSN (China) and Shop Channel (Japan). They in turn are a subsidiary of IAC which is headed by Barry Diller. Among their other notable divisions are Expedia and Hot Wire.
According to Mary Shanahan, vice president of marketing, "Based on emerging market trends, we've developed offerings specifically for the high-end market. We're taking an aggressive approach and seeing increases of 85-100 percent per year." At that rate, JG has the potential to be one of the largest fabric wholesalers in the world. And while this niche appears very labor intensive, Jessitt-Gold learned the art of quick turnaround from parent company, Smith + Noble, the direct-to-consumer window treatment catalog company owned by the Cornerstone group.
''This field is incredibly fertile and growing rapidly," said John Hoven, vice president of business development, who learned about marketing and customer service at Service Master Home Services and other major window treatment manufacturers. ''We are gearing up to be a big player in the high-end custom window and related market, and are branching out into ancillary areas including custom carpets, top-of-bed and duvets, plus accessories like upholstered headboards, bar stools, upholstered dining room chairs and small furniture items...."
Hoven was responsible for overseeing the Smith + Noble sales and service department and realized that although they were selling directly to consumers, an interesting side business was emerging, consisting of interior designers that were approaching them for solutions. With management's blessing and Shanahan, he formed a small group of specialists to cater to the market: Cindy O'Reilly, product development manager and David Fruge, vice president of creative. They have major backing from Jonathan Bernstein, president of the two divisions, and Stephen Hall, vice president of merchandising. These are alumnus of Coach, Procter & Gamble, Pottery Barn, Horchow, Neiman Marcus and Disney Direct, as well as the worlds of commercial, contract and hospitality design.
Hoven tracked the genesis of the division: ''Designers were coming to us with their design needs. We listened and took action. As relationships grew, we realized we had created something special and unusual. We decided to form a partnership with the designers, offering a one-stop shopping experience that would help them grow their business.'' O'Reilly traces the process from product development team to merchants traveling to trade shows throughout the world.
''John wanted to offer world class customer service, diverse product lines, quality and quick turnaround, along with a small boutique feel and mentality. We already knew how to produce a high-quality product quickly," she said, "so we started to develop product specifically for the designers. We held focus groups on both coasts, analyzed the responses and began to put their requests in motion. Thanks to them we have been able to continuously improve our offering, lead time, levels of service, presentation and price structure. We envisioned a custom boutique in Soho or London, offering custom window treatments and unique, customizable home décor.
We thought about the person and team who would be running this boutique and created a brand name that evoked a feeling of high design. Jessitt-Gold is the designer in all of us. For the interior designer, we are the personal custom workroom, boutique and design house all in one." The fabric-by-the-yard category started out strong from the beginning.
''Often interior designers will do their curtains with us and want to re-upholster a settee or even just a pillow or lamp shade in the room with a touch of the same fabric," said O'Reilly. "We have several factories throughout the U.S. that are true partners doing private label products for us." Hoven points out that Jessitt-Gold continues to register an average of 500 designers per month online. Payment is preformed by check and credit card. And while registration is free, there is an extensive process to establish accreditation.
This latter point is a key point of difference between Jessitt-Gold and its sister company, Smith + Noble—it sells exclusively to interior designers who must be vetted in an extensive membership registration process that nets them 15 percent off list prices. The focus is on high-end fabrics by the yard as well as in finished goods. And while their first two years were like a stealth mission, Hoven, O'Reilly and Fruge travel widely to develop sources. F&FI met the team at Proposte in the Desalux showroom, but they cover all of the important shows both here and abroad. They work with domestic mills as well as Asian and European, including Belgium for linens and Germany for high-tech constructions. "We come back to the company with ideas and a plan of action for the following year,'' said O'Reilly.
The company is dedicated to developing long-term relationships with the designers. ''The b2b business requires commitment and longevity on both sides," said Hoven. "We are one-stop shopping for the designer...instant gratification for their clients...a workroom in a catalog and website. We don't know of anyone else out there who does this. In addition to producing a unique high-quality and fashion-forward offering, our product is priced right and made faster than most custom workrooms. We source from all over. We belong to trend associations, attend trade shows and stay abreast of the most current home trends so that we can deliver the most current product assortments to the designers. We sell to the trade only and provide price and specification lists and a coffee table book."
JG is proud of its catalog and ancillary materials. "The specifications booklet is a separate piece that doesn't need to be shown to the ultimate customer, allowing the designer to add markup. We anticipate changing our structure to net pricing pretty soon. But our pricing is very competitive to top workrooms...of course, they can't meet our turnaround time for finished product. We can produce a window treatment start to finish in a week or less," said Hoven.
Despite the business explosion experienced by Jessitt-Gold since its inception, the management feels it hasn't even scratched the surface. "The huge numbers of designers we are signing up monthly tend to be fairly local and they are hungry for the trend newsletters we provide," said O'Reilly. "They look to us for world-class information...they want to be first in their markets with the latest style and color information. The speed of our turnaround is most important to them. Their clients want product right away, yet local workrooms can't turn around quickly...they need 8 to 10 weeks and the customer doesn't have the patience to wait that long.'' In the course of fulfilling these needs for the design customer, the company is simultaneously building a huge database of members to whom they send weekly trend information.
While the emphasis right now is on the residential design market, the company has begun to expand its horizons to commercial and hospitality markets, working with designers and specifiers that specialize in those areas. It has already completed some smaller hospitality projects and anticipates growing at a rate that will outpace the industry.
"We won't try to be the cheapest solution, just the highest quality, highest fashion and greatest value for the money," said O'Reilly.
All of this is good news for mills and specifiers, and should provide new impetus for the competitive wholesale market that's been searching for fresh ideas for several years. Jessitt-Gold has discovered the mother lode.
Jessitt Gold and its parent company Smith+Noble are divisions of the $820 million Cornerstone Group, headed by John Schaefer. It was recently acquired by IAC Electronic Retailing headed by Thomas McInerney, which also owns HSN, America's Store Shopping Network, HSE24 TUSN (China) and Shop Channel (Japan). They in turn are a subsidiary of IAC which is headed by Barry Diller. Among their other notable divisions are Expedia and Hot Wire.
