Conversations with Wes
We recently sat down with Wes Jenkins, President of Rugs To My Door to learn a bit about the world of rugs. Here is what was said (in part).
Nina:
So as a leading fashion designer for rugs, I have learned that color and design is the ruling matter for a great selling area rug. What does it take to make a good experience for the customer?
Wes:
Well, there are a lot of moving parts really. There has been a long standing belief that online retailers just take a lot of rugs and put them onto a site and then fly off to a tropical paradise where they watch the money roll in. Nothing could be further from the truth--unless, of course you consider our Detroit headquarters to be a tropical paradise--I know I sure don't.
Nina:
Interesting. I know when I teamed up with Rugs To My Door to help select products for the Nina Upson Home brand, I really thought a site was much easier to run than what you are saying it is, but can you elaborate a bit?
Wes:
Sure. Rugs To My Door works to bring several different rug suppliers under one roof. So when someone searches for a blue rug, they don't know whether it was made by ABC Rug Company, or Acme Rug Company. This is intentional. From when I joined Rugs To My Door, I have believed that the customer just should not have to know about that sort of thing-it just gets in the way of a more pleasant shopping experience. They want a great looking rug at a great price, and it really does not matter which company it came from. In order to create a seamless experience for the customer-so that they may choose a rug for their living room made by Acme Rug Company and a rug for their foyer from ABC Rug Company we have product management staff that has to enter every single rug in every single size into a master database so that the product all is consistently provided to our IT department which then uploads it to the site.
Nina:
Wow. That is a mouthful. To be honest you sort of lost me half way through that one (chuckles).
Wes:
Thats alright. I suppose that is how it should be. You need not know how the site got to where it is at so far as ease of use, etc. You just need to know that when you want to look for a product the process of finding it is easy and quick. Look forward to even more innovations to how rugs can be discovered on our site in the future.
Nina:
Alright. Sounds good. Thank you for your time.
Wes:
You are quite welcome. You know, I really am passionate about rugs. I have been in this industry-working in this industry-since I was only 16 years old. That was the first time I received a pay check for work done in this business. So I really do love it-it is in my blood. So thanks for visiting with me. I hope we can sit down and talk about rugs again in the near future.
-This is an excerpt of an interview conducted on Friday March 28, 2008 from Wes Jenkins office in the Rugs To My Door headquarters located in Detroit, MI.
Nina:
So as a leading fashion designer for rugs, I have learned that color and design is the ruling matter for a great selling area rug. What does it take to make a good experience for the customer?
Wes:
Well, there are a lot of moving parts really. There has been a long standing belief that online retailers just take a lot of rugs and put them onto a site and then fly off to a tropical paradise where they watch the money roll in. Nothing could be further from the truth--unless, of course you consider our Detroit headquarters to be a tropical paradise--I know I sure don't.
Nina:
Interesting. I know when I teamed up with Rugs To My Door to help select products for the Nina Upson Home brand, I really thought a site was much easier to run than what you are saying it is, but can you elaborate a bit?
Wes:
Sure. Rugs To My Door works to bring several different rug suppliers under one roof. So when someone searches for a blue rug, they don't know whether it was made by ABC Rug Company, or Acme Rug Company. This is intentional. From when I joined Rugs To My Door, I have believed that the customer just should not have to know about that sort of thing-it just gets in the way of a more pleasant shopping experience. They want a great looking rug at a great price, and it really does not matter which company it came from. In order to create a seamless experience for the customer-so that they may choose a rug for their living room made by Acme Rug Company and a rug for their foyer from ABC Rug Company we have product management staff that has to enter every single rug in every single size into a master database so that the product all is consistently provided to our IT department which then uploads it to the site.
Nina:
Wow. That is a mouthful. To be honest you sort of lost me half way through that one (chuckles).
Wes:
Thats alright. I suppose that is how it should be. You need not know how the site got to where it is at so far as ease of use, etc. You just need to know that when you want to look for a product the process of finding it is easy and quick. Look forward to even more innovations to how rugs can be discovered on our site in the future.
Nina:
Alright. Sounds good. Thank you for your time.
Wes:
You are quite welcome. You know, I really am passionate about rugs. I have been in this industry-working in this industry-since I was only 16 years old. That was the first time I received a pay check for work done in this business. So I really do love it-it is in my blood. So thanks for visiting with me. I hope we can sit down and talk about rugs again in the near future.
-This is an excerpt of an interview conducted on Friday March 28, 2008 from Wes Jenkins office in the Rugs To My Door headquarters located in Detroit, MI.
posted by Rugs To My Door at 10:28 AM 
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home