Since introducing online order placement for customized closets in 1999, EasyClosets.com has positioned itself as a unique supplier of a fail-safe DIY project. The company's history shows reinventions of its self-titled website and its proprietary design tool, but what hasn't wavered is an ability to help homeowners build a track-mounted closet system with foolproof installation. 

EasyClosets.com maintains a headquarters that's more than 100,000 square feet with a 7,000-square-foot showroom in Pine Brook, N.J. No matter if for a simple reach-in closet or a room-sized walk-in pantry, orders placed by 6 p.m. EST are cut and shipped the next business day. Becky Newman, vice president of Internet sales, shared some of her insight from her eight years with EasyClosets.com, a timespan in which emerging digital technology has offered exciting new opportunities while also allowing the brand to stay true to its roots.

S&P: Your website is your bread and butter. What about the site itself has changed the most?

BN:  Well, we have always shipped custom parts dictated by whatever design the customer purchased. In the very beginning, we created about 99 percent of the designs based on dimensions customers faxed to us. We've reinvented our online design tool several times over -- at least four times in the past 11 years. Today, it has a much greater ability to interact with the customer. Our in-house programmers can tweak the interface based on customer feedback. Recent improvements include multiple features to encourage or enhance customer communication, whether it be the free design service we've always had, the free design review request, click-to-call or live chat. Even with these additions, we still take customers' dimensions by e-mail or fax just like in the early days, but now we're seeing more people calling for professional advice while they're at the computer designing their own closets.

S&P:  What else is new and improved at EasyClosets?

BN:  It's really more like new and always improving; for instance, our excellent installation instructions which are incidentally now customized. We've had a really productive six to eight months with website enhancements, but we also recently launched custom instructions. Now if someone orders five closets, they get an instruction booklet that directly applies to each individual closet. For 10 years, we had a booklet that grew and grew with each new product -- pantry accessory, crown molding, corner shelf, etc. A reach-in closet with double-hanging, tall-hanging and open shelves doesn't need instructions for a hamper, drawers, drawer glides and baskets. This is a great economy of paper and and allows for more easily updated instructions based on customer feedback. We take suggestions seriously and regularly make wording changes and pictorial adjustments. Because we know how challenging a DIY project can be, excellent documentation is important.

S&P: How can EasyClosets.com process and cut orders for next-day shipment?

BN: Our manufacturing is divided up into stations. When we receive an order and it has passed the final approval process, our production team generates a final parts list. We may make changes for things like finished sides or adding an extra support cleat, but our proprietary design program generates about 98 percent of the lists. That list is generated into labels -- two for every box of closet components -- a UPS label for shipping purposes and company label (identifying quantity, part name, dimension, color and the closet it belongs in) that travel to stations in our warehouse. The computer generates those boxes based on like sizes for efficacy, stability and to ensure the parts arrive in good condition. It's all computerized. One order might have anywhere from 10 to 110 boxes, and it's an assembly-line process separated into different manufacturing areas. So, an order is not packed and shipped all at once or even in the same production department. It is divided up to go to different areas in our warehouse and packed there. The boxes may all end up on the six to 10 different tractor trailers that leave our warehouse daily, but based on the great UPS distribution system, they all end up at the same house on the same day. 

"The people we talk to are doing this for personal reasons -- a new house, a remodel, a new baby, sticker shock from a competitor. Our customer support team is trained to acknowledge what our customers are doing, why they're doing it, in what timeframe, and how we can help them do it." 

- Becky Newman, vice president of Internet sales, EasyClosets.com

S&P:  What safeguards prevent homeowners from creating dysfunctional closet systems?

BN:  About 60 to 70 percent of customers' designs are touched by a designer here before order placement. Of that remaining 30 to 40 percent, we have a process in place to review orders. We also have warnings built into our online design tool, but sometimes people don't like pop-up warnings and just close them. The production team checks to make sure there are not, for instance, drawers in a corner that will hit something and not open. We check for adequate aisle space. If a design comes in with 10 inches between shelving on the left and right sides of a closet, we flag that order and contact the customer before production to offer assistance and recommend solutions. We call this our redesign process, and it's a greatly appreciated service. It's our goal to ship our products once. 

S&P: How do you serve professional closet companies who want to use your services?

BN: We have two Internet sales divisions. ProClosets supports professionals in the home industry -- people selling only closets, contractors building homes or businesses offering closet systems as an add-on to an existing product line -- using a different version of the same web-based design tool that has more capabilities. When an account is approved, we provide webinars and phone support for designing and installing as well as other business tools. We're a material supplier with great perks. ProClosets customers are selling our products under their own business name. ProClosets is not a franchise or territory-exclusive. This division accounts for about a fourth of overall Internet sales. Like EasyClosets, this is unique in the sense that we provide ongoing customer support for no additional fee and the use of our proprietary design tool for no fee.

 The EasyClosets Shop at a Glance:

• Northern Contours 3D-laminated doors and drawer fronts (available in seven colors with exact-matching programs for TFM and edgebanding; ships about 6,000 to 10,000 drawer fronts each month with 75 percent of designs including at least one drawer; places between 50 and 200 custom door orders each week)
• Tafisa thermally fused melamine (TFM) laminated particleboard panels (3/4-inch, 5-by-9-foot sheets cut to three standard shelf depths, 14, 19 and 24 inches)
• Hafele hardware
• Weeke CNC machines (radius and outside corner shelves, tray dividers, hutch vertical panels that sit on floor)
• Holz-Her beam saws
• Ritter boring machines (cam and line boring)