Press Release

More than 50pc of $20K-$500K transactions involve the Internet: Claremont Rug Co.

May 6, 2013—MClaremont Rug Co. embraced the Internet early on and now the medium is its primary means to disseminate information and gain sales from its ultra-high-net-worth audience.

The international rug gallery caters to today’s high-end home furnishings shoppers who do not view their purchases as luxury items, but as pieces that fit into their lifestyle. The company uses digital marketing, catalogs and one-to-one contact to retain lifelong customers.

“We understand that our clients have many demands on their time, which requires that we often work to their schedules, not to our own convenience,” said Jan David Winitz, founder and president of Claremont Rug, Oakland, CA.

“Because we have been involved with the Internet for nearly half our history, we have integrated it into the way we communicate with clients,” he said. “For us, it is part of the traditional way that we work with most of our clients.”

Claremont Rug sells from an inventory of more than 3,000 collectible to investment-level pieces from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving, ca. 1800-1910, each valued from $20,000 to $500,000 or more.

The gallery acquires and sells its rugs privately. It sells more museum and investment-level oriental rugs than the world’s top auction houses combined, according to the company.

In this Q&A, Mr. Winitz discusses the demands of today’s high-net-worth rug buyers, how the Internet drives his business and his outlook on the luxury home furnishings industry. Here is the dialogue:

What is the profile of the average customer of Claremont Rug?
Claremont Rug Company clients are discerning art collectors who often have built private troves of several genres of art.

Among the most prominent groups represented in our international client base is the top end of ultra-high-net-worth consumers from more than two dozen nations that are generationally individuals and families.

They include the generationally wealthy, prominent Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and investors, and chairmen and CEOs from a variety of industries including entertainment, manufacturing and major publicly-held corporations.

Nearly 50 are identified on Forbes list of billionaires and many own both private air and water crafts. They also have multiple residences, often on more than one continent.

But what also ties them together is their appreciation and ownership of world-class art and the effect it has on their lives.

Oriental rugs at a collector’s home in San Francisco 

What are the wants and needs of ultra-high-net-worth consumers who are in the market for high-end home décor?
Our clients come to us  because our reputation ensures them that they have access to the best of the best of rugs from the Second Golden Age of Persian Weaving.

They also appreciate that beyond offering them one-in-the-world rugs, they are also provided personally with the information and education necessary to make sound decisions.

I work very closely with them to ensure that the choices that we offer them fit with their own personal aesthetic and with the other forms of art that they collect to enhance the overall ambiance of their homes.

They appreciate that we will bring rugs to their residences for viewing and that we have a long-term exchange policy.

We respect their privacy, remain available and continue to provide information without any form of pressure.

We have current clients who have been active with us since we opened Claremont more than three decades ago.

How has your customer changed over the past decade?
Interestingly, as much changes, many things remain the same.

We continue to have client relationships with collectors for decades, while at the same time we are sought out by individuals who have discovered us via recommendations from their peers, via our Web site or by Internet research. We do almost no advertising.

In general, our clients are very much interested in having sufficient knowledge about the rugs that they acquire to feel confident in their future selections.

We are also encountering second- and third-generation collectors within families as well as international buyers who are attracted to the artistic and cultural qualities of 19th century oriental rugs.

We are increasingly being approached by collectors of other forms of art who recognize that best-of-the-best antique oriental rugs are both under-valued and diminishing in availability.

Oriental rugs in a collector’s California home

What values are the most important to push among Claremont Rug’s target consumer group?
Fortunately, we have never been interested in, nor have we ever had to push our inventory. We have maintained since we opened our doors in 1980 that antique oriental rugs are a great art form and worthy of collecting and placing in situations with other great art.

We have not compromised on that nor have we ever changed our approach to our clients. They are acquiring the rugs not simply as decorative pieces, but as great art and as an investment in precious tangible assets.

We do not participate in shows or exhibitions, nor do we work in the auction market as a buyer or seller.

Our business consists of private transactions between Claremont Rug Company and our clients. We are very committed to the privacy of our clients and have turned down many opportunities to appear in major media where the interview requests involved the naming of clients.

We are first and foremost art rug collectors whose clients are also art collectors.

Our form of push is the education of clients so that over time their acquisitions are more informed.

We do this via email, printed catalogs, occasional messages and personal consultation.

We are very much bespoke in the manner that we approach our clients and our marketing.

What outside factors are changing how Claremont Rug treats and interacts with its customers?
We were fortunate to have as a client in the ‘90s, John Warnock, who was the chairman of Adobe Systems, and he introduced us to the Internet long before anyone in the art world recognized its potential for reaching collectors.

As a result, we were pathfinders in the use of the Internet to market to people interested in elite, rare objects d’arte.

Currently, significantly more than 50 percent of our transactions involve the Internet.  In fact, we have clients who have acquired as many as 150 pieces from us and who have never physically visited our Gallery.

What advice would you give to other home marketers that are looking to maintain their traditions, but keep up with their evolving customer base?
Economic conditions change. The Internet and mobile devices become more prominent and “art fairs” and auctions produce major headlines.

But we find that respecting our clients, providing them educational tools and maintaining an unparalleled inventory are the essentials of our success.

We understand that our clients have many demands on their time which requires that we often work to their schedules, not to our own convenience.

Because we have been involved with the Internet for nearly half our history, we have integrated it into the way we communicate with clients.

For us, it is part of the traditional way that we work with most of our clients.

What do you see as the key drivers of luxury home purchases in 2013?
My personal observation is that many of our clients do not look at residences as luxuries, but more as part of their lifestyle.

They acquire property because they have a desire to be in a certain location and they have specific qualities in mind.

Often this involves new construction versus acquisition of existing structures.

We have numerous clients who maintain homes on two or three continents or might have a New York apartment, a historic family residence and a summer or winter compound.

While they may be more comfortable purchasing a new home as the economy improves, that is not necessarily the key driver.

Another aspect of our business for the past decade has been what we term as “whole home projects,” which involve placing as many as 70 rugs in a residence as the central motif on the interior design.

We complete about 50 of those annually, both in new construction and for families in situ.

Also, I have had the privilege of completing a whole home project in one home for three different owners over a 25-year period, each reflecting the individual tastes of the new owner.