He opened a store in Sonoma, California, to sell the French cookware that intrigued him while visiting Europe but that could not be found in America. Chuck's business, which set a standard for customer service, took off and helped fuel a revolution in American cooking and entertaining that continues today.
The next question was whether to open stores. The pitch my team and I made to our then CEO, Howard Lester, and other top leaders again involved both creativity we set up a mock store in our parking garage and data we mapped out the neighborhoods where people had made the most Pottery Barn Kids catalog purchases and found the best-performing shopping centers or streets in each.
As a result, the company opened eight stores in and added many more, plus a website, the next year. In the years since, Williams-Sonoma has taken its use of data to an entirely new level—one that I know is unique in the retail sector.
Today analytics infuses—and enhances—all areas of our business, in decisions both big and small. Our overarching goal is always to enhance the customer experience.
Relevance is our guiding principle. When customers come to the website of any Williams-Sonoma brand, they are greeted with pages tailored to their preferences, as indicated by past purchases or browsing history.
Banners try to entice customers with deals based on their previous buying behavior. Does she shop sales? Does he wait for free shipping? Photos of products in room settings were an early differentiator. Brands also use plain product shots and track which approach leads to more sales.
External websites such as Pinterest can be an important driver of traffic. Recommendations are increasingly algorithm-driven. Someone browsing sofa pillows might also need a new cocktail table. Everyone at Williams-Sonoma now recognizes that our business is both an art creating products that people will love and a science presenting those products to our customers when they want or need them. Creative curation is what distinguishes us from generalist e-tailers; data analytics is what puts us ahead of other home furnishings retailers.
To get to this point, however, we had to refine our thinking in a few key areas: structure, people, tools, and culture. Our strategy is simple: We help customers create the homes of their dreams by providing them with a best-in-class, multichannel retail experience.
But in the early s our organizational structure was preventing us from achieving the second half of that goal. One year later, he purchased a hardware store in downtown Sonoma, and soon after transformed it into a shop specializing in French cookware. Thus, Williams-Sonoma was born. Since then, the company has expanded to sell high-end items for the home of all kinds. Benefitting from the changes in dining and food culture during the '60s and '70s, Williams-Sonoma continued to expand in size.
The company caught the eye of entrepreneur Howard Lester, who then purchased the company with a friend in and assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer CEO. In , Williams-Sonoma raised financing through an initial public offering IPO to accelerate its expansion.
Williams-Sonoma today sells furnishings and decorative accessories for every room in the home. Williams-Sonoma has used acquisitions to complement its internal growth, although not all of them have been successful. In , for example, it ventured into retail gardening by purchasing Gardener's Eden, a catalog company that sells plants, tools, and accessories. Williams-Sonoma sold it in We take a look at three of these acquisitions in more detail below.
The company provides sales breakdowns for some, but not all of these deals. Pottery Barn was established in as a home furnishings retailer focused on offering products marked by exceptional comfort, quality, style, and value. Williams-Sonoma purchased the company from Gap Inc. GPS in At that time, Pottery Barn had about 21 stores located mainly in Manhattan, where they sold a limited range of products. The Pottery Barn and parent Williams-Sonoma brands have been built on a reputation for selling high-quality products.
Rejuvenation, whose manufacturing and distribution facilities are located in Portland, Oregon, specializes in made-to-order lighting fixtures. Outward is an enterprise technology startup founded in in San Jose, California. The company offers 3-D imaging and augmented reality specifically geared toward digital applications for the home furnishings and decorative accessories industry.
President, Chief Executive Officer, Director. Julie Patenaude Whalen. Alexander Bellos. President - West Elm Brand. Marta Benson. President - Pottery Barn brand. New Stories. Williams-Sonoma Inc persuaded a federal appeals court to set aside an order requiring it to produce a list of California customers who bought bedding products to a lawyer hunting for a lead plaintiff to pursue a class action.
Coffee machine maker Nespresso USA has sued Williams-Sonoma for trademark infringement, accusing the specialty retailer of tarnishing the Nespresso brand by selling lookalike espresso capsules that produce inferior coffee. Home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma has filed a trademark lawsuit against Amazon. Quote and financial data from Refinitiv. Fund performance data provided by Lipper.
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