Rachel Bates Interiors
Rachel Bates Interiors (RBI) is quite simply a celebration of all things luxury. We are raising funds to accelerate the launch, scope and reach of our online boutique.
The store plans to sell a wide array of products from world-renowned luxury designers, many of which we anticipate would be exclusive to the site. We intend to also have unique design collaborations between RBI and some leading brands e.g. And-So-To-Bed, Laurent Perrier, as well as RBI own-label products.
The product range will be broad, extending from beautiful gift ideas to exquisite home furnishings. The overriding ethos is one of beautifully made, high quality, superior products, elegantly curated in the style for which RBI has become known.
The decision to develop the online store is the result of demand from customers for our products and huge support and encouragement from some of the leading figures in the interior design industry.
The RBI team had long admired the tremendous success of some of the premium branded clothing retailers such as net-a-porter.com and felt there was a huge gap in the luxury interior design market.
Consequently, in conjunction with working on her ongoing interior design commissions, Rachel spent over three years intensely sourcing the most exquisite products from the finest craftsmen and artisans in the UK and across the globe.
While online fashion retail is extremely well-established and growing strongly, the team at RBI believes a significant opportunity remains to replicate this considerable and very profitable success but within the luxury interiors and lifestyle market.
Rachel’s experience testifies to the full range of consumer emotions in the buying process for interior products. Whether it be for a highly prized and personal gift for a friend or loved one or through to the complete design, build and fit-out of a new home. The process almost always involves huge excitement and seeks to be reflective of the individuals tastes, loves and lifestyles. At the other end of the spectrum, some clients want a service that fulfils their desires without having to get too heavily involved in the process.
An online store that caters to the above client needs therefore has to be of the highest quality in terms of product, imagery, user experience and service levels. Rachel has assembled a team to deliver exactly that. Various initiatives to ensure deep customer interaction with the brands and the RBI lifestyle have been scheduled, such as, “creating the look” demonstrations. Many other creative ideas will be brought to users to help enhance their RBI experience.
In a relatively short space of time Rachel has achieved considerable success. She has always been deeply creative. After running the project to build her new home, requests from family and friends followed. So her interior design business was born.
An early major accomplishment came when one of the world’s most respected and influential interior designers, Nina Campbell, asked Rachel to supply her newly designed, “decorative botanicals” range of products. These were supplied to Nina for the re-opening of her flagship store in London. Since then Rachel has worked on exclusive design collaborations with some of the World’s leading luxury interior and lifestyle brands. She has also begun extending her own-label product range.
Rachel has been featured in many national and regional publications, nominated for and won industry awards and hosted a leading industry event. She has also been asked to appear on television.
Proceeds from the capital raise will be used to fund three categories of spend: 1) Initial stock; 2) Expanding the staff base; & 3) Admin. & marketing expenses.
1. Initial stock: A modest level of stock is required to populate and launch the site. This requires an up-front investment. Thereafter, our supplier agreements allow us to source product on credit. This will be after orders have been received and paid for by the client (de-risking the model). However, we will invest in some stock, split 53% RBI own-label (higher-margin) and 47% third-party product.
2. Staff: We plan to expand the current team, particularly within IT, web-development, content management, customer service, sales & marketing and logistics.
3. Admin. expenses: premises, utilities, packaging, advertising & marketing and IT hardware and development.