About
DPS is the leading online merchant of decorative home products, specializing in decorative plumbing, lighting and hardware products. Through its online stores and its sales and customer service center, DPS provides its customers with the largest offering of decorative products which are drop shipped directly to customers. A superior online presentation and a "best in class" customer sales and service operation are key elements of the Company´s success formula.
DPS differentiates itself by the breadth of its product offering; the quality and ease of use of its online merchandise presentation; the high level of its professional sales assistance, order execution and post sale customer service; and the manner in which it manages and has partnered with key vendors and manufacturers. DPS´s operating success is based, in part, on the strength of its relationship with brand name manufacturers. The Company´s vendors support DPS´s efforts through in-stock, drop ship programs managed by DPS´s electronic platform that ensures high order fill rates and fast order processing and shipping times. The Company´s manufacturers recognize DPS as the market leader in promoting their brands and complete product lines online to a national audience of qualified shoppers. DPS´s customers include consumers and home renovation, building &design professionals.
DPS has been a regular recipient of the exclusive E-Retailer Top 500 Guide listing, moving up to position #176 in 2006. The E-Retailer Top 500 Guide is the authoritative ranking and analysis of America's 500 largest e-retailers. E-Retailer ranks these e-retailer businesses according to key web performance metrics. Some examples of the metrics are: web features & functions, monthly web traffic and unique visitors, percent of traffic from search engines and growth rate from 2005.
DPS History
DPS was founded in 1994 by David Berman and Daniel Auer, the Company’s CEO and COO, respectively, Mr. Auer had a reputation for innovative and cutting edge merchandising in plumbing supply showrooms. Mr. Berman wrote a merchandising column for industry trade magazines and lectured to industry groups nationally on “How to compete with the ‘Big Box’ retailers.” The founders of DPS believed the growth of home ownership, the transformation of the plumbing business and allied categories like lighting from functional products to “lifestyle” products, which included a proliferation of new products, and the growth of mass merchants who made the products more visible to consumers, would create a growing demand for decorative plumbing and lighting products. They also believed that selling decorative plumbing and lighting products in a showroom or retail store was extremely difficult and had severe limitations. They created and refined an on-line solution that addressed the limitations of successfully and fully merchandising the category at retail.
DPS grew slowly during the first years of its existence, testing various strategies and gaining an in depth knowledge of successful online marketing techniques. DPS’s disciplined approach to building the business allowed it to grow along with the marketplace’s willingness to engage in e-commerce. Each year since 1999, DPS has experienced dramatic growth in sales and profitability.
Value Proposition
DPS believes that consumers and trade professionals are increasingly choosing its internet-based solution for the following reasons:
Broad Product Selection
The Company offers the largest selection of decorative plumbing and lighting products available anywhere. DPS offers more than 100,000 products, including 48,000 on-line from 147 manufacturers of decorative products.
Superior Merchandise Presentation
In its category, DPS offers the best on-line experience available, providing customers with an easy-to-use, information rich website with large images and application photos making it easy for the customer to identify the items they need and make a purchase decision with confidence. The Company’s websites provide customers with clear and detailed information about each product.
High Level of Customer Service and Support
In contrast to many Internet-only retailers, the Company provides a high level of customer sales support and service. DPS has invested heavily in this area with a sales team who provide “showroom quality” sales assistance over the phone and a customer service team who provide a superior post sale customer experience. The off-line customer service is augmented with a wealth of on-line resources, including product images, specification sheets, warranty information, product availability, ordering, shipping and return information.
Reliable Order Execution and Delivery
Orders are shipped typically either the same day to within 72 hours of order.