Oh man, are we excited!
The news is on the front page of xBiz and AVN right now, and you, my dear Stockroom.com affiliates, can read it right here:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Stockroom.com Acquires Stormy Leather
Los Angeles/San Francisco, CA –
Stockroom.com, the oldest online adult toy retailer specializing in high-quality BDSM gear and Fetish wear, has acquired San Francisco-based Stormy Leather, a leading manufacturer of distinctive fetish clothing and toys.
Stormy Leather was founded in 1983 by Kathy Andrew, who operated “like a crazed elf in a leaking basement” (On Our Backs) on an antique sewing machine in the original Sanchez Street basement location. The business later relocated to the American Industrial Center on Third Street and then to its current location at 1158 Howard Street, where the Stormy Leather Retail Store opened its doors on May 5th 1990.
In December of 2002, Stormy Leather was purchased by the Florida based corporation Eurotique, who continued building the Stormy Leather business until this year when the company’s owners decided to retire.
Although Stockroom.com has been a steadily-growing organism since its founding in 1988 by 21 year old college student Joel Tucker, the company “definitely seem to be experiencing quite a growth spurt this year” says Marketing Director Juli Crockett. Prior to the Stormy Leather acquisition last week, Stockroom.com was already expanding its manufacturing with the debut of its Kinklab line and the acquisition of Syren Latex. The company also launched the redesigned Stockroom.com website last year, offering a host of new user-friendly features, as well as an All Male version of the Stockroom site, GayStockroom.com. Last but certainly not least, Stockroom.com’s long-awaited affiliate program launched early in 2006 and now providing all of the toy stores for the Kink.com network of sites.
As it did with the Syren acquisition of 2006, Stockroom.com is bringing the entire Stormy Leather production team on board, and also plans to renovate the Stormy Leather retail store. “When Stockroom.com purchased Syren, our design team performed a makeover on both the store and the product line which breathed new life into the company,” says Stockroom/Syren latex designer Jeff of LA. “Reinvigorating the Stormy image will involve the same strategy of carefully redesigning the store and selectively editing and adding to the product line that we exercised with Syren Latex. The renovated Stormy store will not only be more aesthetically pleasing, but visitors will find it easier to shop.” High-quality merchandise and superior aesthetics will be a key focus, as it has always been for Stockroom.com.
Stockroom.com owner and founder Joel Tucker states, “I am happy and excited about Stockroom’s acquisition of Stormy Leather. These are two complementary enterprises, each with a long history of positive community involvement and industry leadership, and each founded upon similar values.”
“Stormy is actually five years older than Stockroom, having been founded in 1983. Both businesses have been pioneers in the industry in their own ways. Stockroom was the first adult toy company on the internet, and has always been an all-around leader in terms of service, value, marketing, manufacturing, and efficiency. Stormy has an impressive history in leather/specialty retail, and excellent design, especially in its lines of products made by and for women. Both companies have had a long-standing commitment to quality product, community involvement, education, and ethics.”
Before & After
To clear out the store for the renovation, there will be a huge “Before” blowout sale beginning on April 20th (yes, 4/20) and ending on April 30th at which time the Stormy store will be closed for renovations until May 15th when the doors to the new, improved Stormy Leather will open and the “After” sale will begin. The Grand Opening play party & fashion show is scheduled for Friday May 18th at the Stormy Leather retail store.
Skin Two once cited Stormy Leather as being “possibly the best fetish store [they’ve”> ever seen”. The SF Bay Guardian 27th Annual Readers’ Poll voted Stormy Leather “Best Leather Shop”, just as the company turned 18 years old at the beginning of August 2001. And now more than twenty years after its creation, Stormy Leather has been voted “Best Women’s Leather Store” by the Society for Human Sexuality several times. Stockroom.com intends to maintain and refine the award-winning history of excellence customers have come to expect from Stormy Leather.
Tucker is also pleased to be spending more time in San Francisco. “This acquisition also gives me all the excuse I need to spend a lot more of my own time in San Francisco, and I am looking forward to that. The whole Stormy Leather staff seems to be excited and supportive about the new direction, and I am enjoying getting to know them better.”
It’s time for the Phoenix Forum! Who’s going to be there?
I am just giddy to get to the conference and see all of our friends, affiliates, and associates IN THE FLESH. Not that I don’t immensely enjoy the high-tech cyber-ways that I usually communicate with everyone in the biz — via blogs, IMs, phone calls, and email — it’s just that nothing quite compares to sharing some face to face time, shaking hands, looking each other straight in the eyes and hearing first hand how things are going.
There is something special about the Phoenix Forum. Perhaps it is simply my own nostalgia (I consider it to be the first “real” webmaster show that I ever attended) though I think it’s something more. I think it’s an excellent show, put on RIGHT, by a great company who knows how to throw a party.
I’ll be bringing the newest addition to my team, Amy, who is going to be experiencing the trial-by-fire initiation into all things affiliate/traffic/web-marketing at the show.
Amy is one of Stockroom.com’s top Customer Service providers, which made her a perfect candidate for an Affiliate Account Representative. Our plan is to continue extending the same legendary customer care that the Stockroom is known for on the retail end of things into our affiliate relations as well.
I’ve been holding down the fort the best I can, and I will continue to do so to some extent, with Amy acting as my right hand in all things affiliate.
In other news….
The Stockroom is going to have some BIG news in the upcoming weeks. Can’t tell you now, but keep your ears peeled and eyes out for the official announcement. This is gonna be good. 🙂
Who’s going to the GAYVN Summit this weekend?
Unfortunately, I will only be there on Thursday for a meeting (alright, I admit it, I have to rush home to play a gig with my band, The Evangenitals, on Friday night!) however…
Stockroom.com founder and owner Joel Tucker is going to be representing our affiliate program at the Summit all weekend long!
If you see him, please be sure to introduce yourself as a Stockroom affiliate. Feel free to ask him any questions or give him any suggestions you may have regarding the Stockroom.com affiliate program.
Although I can’t make it to this webmasters show, I will be attending The Phoenix Forum in March. The Phoenix Forum was the very first adult webmasters show I ever attended, actually, and one of the very, very best in my opinion. If you’re at all able to get there, don’t miss it!
If you’re going to be there, be sure to track me down and help me put faces to names. If you don’t know what I look like, you can check out my profile over on Adult Who’s Who to get a better idea of just who you are dealing with! Yes, I will most likely be wearing my faithful floppy hat!
p.s. If you’re not yet registered over on Adult Who’s Who, go register! It’s free, it’s fun, and it’s the one of the fastest-growing, award-winning networking site for adult webmasters.
I have been up in Las Vegas for both the AVN Adult Expo and Internext shows, and it has been quite a week! At AVN we officially debuted Stockroom’s new Kinklab line to rave reviews, and we were even featured on the G4 Network. With back to back shows, and business as usual in between, I’ve been exhausted this trip, however, this has not prevented me from having a ball. I’ve gotten to meet several of our Stockroom affiliates face to face, and I’m looking forward to meeting even more tomorrow.
If you are here at the Internext show, please be sure to email me, give me a call, or track me down. I’m the girl in the fishing hat. 🙂
You may notice some changes when you log into the Stockroom.com affiliate program these days.
We’re getting ready for the New Year, and introducing a sexy new look for our affiliate site. Right now, it will greet you when you hit the home page at www.stockroom.com/affiliates, however you will soon see this new format showing up on every single page of the affiliate backend.
Do not be alarmed, we are simply attempting to enhance your aesthetic experience of our program. Hope you enjoy the new eye candy. 🙂
And there are more improvements on the horizon!
We will be introducing a new tools in early ’07 which will allow you to view more of the activity on your affiliate account, such as declines, returns, and chargebacks (which we get very few of, due to the fact that we actually process all credit card orders in person), new link generating tools, RSS Feeds, and more! We have great plans for the affiliate program in 2007, and are happy to have you on board to share the experience with us.
Cheers,
Juli
Recently it was brought to my attention that the Stockroom.com Privacy Policy, though it has always been observed and extended to our affiliates, was not actually published anywhere on the Stockroom.com Affiliate Program site, or in the Terms and Conditions.
Well, now it’s official! The following Stockroom.com Privacy Statement has been added to the Terms and Conditions, and is available for viewing anytime in the menu bar at www.stockroom.com/affiliates:
Privacy Statement
Confidentiality is a cornerstone of our business. Stockroom.com is committed to respecting and protecting the privacy of its clients.
Unlike many online businesses, we do NOT sell or rent access to customer or affiliate mailing lists or databases to other companies. We will not share ordering information with anyone outside the company, unless compelled to do so by a court order (which has never happened in our 19 years in business).
For our customers, we have taken extensive measures to make our online ordering systems secure. All exchange of personal data takes place in secure browser environments, and data is stored in encrypted formats behind a firewall. We employ outside security analysis firms to check our work on a routine basis.
All orders from Stockroom.com, GayStockroom.com, Syren.com, and our co-branded affiliate stores are shipped in plain packaging using a return address of “Shipping Manager.”
Charges to customer credit card statements will appear as “JT’s Stockroom – 213-484-3882”.
It is feedback like this that helps us to continually develop and improve our affiliate program in response to the needs and desires of our affiliates. As Stockroom affiliates, you are always encouraged to contact me with your ideas, suggestions, problems, questions, wildest dreams, and wishful thinking. We are big dreamers here at the Stockroom, and we want to help you to be as successful as possible with our program.
No question is too simple or foolish, no desire too grand to be considered.
I am here for you. 🙂
Cheers,
Juli Crockett
Director of Marketing
Stockroom.com/GayStockroom.com
213-484-3882
affiliates@stockroom.com
ICQ # 11-234-009
We here at Stockroom.com were absolutely thrilled to discover that we were nominated for not one but TWO xBiz Awards: Web Retailer of the Year and Novelty Company of the Year! And boy, are we ever excited!
As Stockroom Affiliates, you can feel proud and secure in your decision to sign on with an award-worthy web retailer and manufacturer. Congratulations!
We are honored to be nominated alongside such impressive industry leaders, and the energy here at the Stockroom.com complex can only be described as “just plain giddy” and “oozing with glee.”
I am very much looking forward to the xBiz conference and awards show on Feb. 7th & 8th, as the last show in Vegas was tons of informative fun.
This nomination is like the cherry on top of an already amazing year, and we would like to thank all of our friends, fans, xPeeps and Myspace pals, our affiliates, and everyone else that nominated us for your love, loyalty and support. (hmm… does that sound like I’m preparing my acceptance speech?)
It’s simply a treat to be nominated, and I want to share this joyful feeling with all of you.
Let’s party!
Cheers,
Juli Crockett
Director of Marketing
Stockroom.com/GayStockroom.com
And now… Kinklab.com!
Have you explored all of the reporting features of the Stockroom.com Affiliate Program?
If so, you may have noticed an option to view Your Top Ten Selling Items. This handy feature was designed to give you a clear idea of what your site visitors are buying, so you can make informed decisions as to what types of items you may want to promote via direct product linking, product features or reviews, and other methods of attracting attention to specific items.
In addition to the Top Ten Selling Items, you can always view every single item purchased via your affiliate code in your Monthly Reports.
We have recently updated the Top Ten feature on our affiliate site to reflect your *Top Ten Best Selling Items of All Time, as it was previously reporting the Top Ten on a month to month basis. We feel that providing you the Top Ten items of All Time will give you a better sense of the overall buying habits of your visitors, and assist you in crafting the best sales campaign possible.
As always, we are continually working to develop our affiliate program in response to the needs of our affiliates. If you have any suggestions, problems, questions, or wild and crazy ideas for ways in which we can improve your affiliate experience, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Cheers,
Juli Crockett
Director of Marketing
Stockroom.com/GayStockroom.com
www.stockroom.com/affiliates
affiliates@stockroom.com
Those of you with co-branded stores may have noticed a new menu item in your store….
Stockroom.com & GayStockroom.com have just unveiled this newest promotional sales feature for our affiliate stores. Your customers will now be able to choose one of six free gift options with a minimum purchase of $30.
There is also mention of the “Love Bomb” special on this free gift page, which is a checkout special that is (and has been) available to ALL customers upon checkout.
Be sure to promote this new Free Gift feature and the Love Bomb special to your visitors!
You may have noticed a change in the stats reporting in your Stockroom.com Affiliate Program account.
We have just added Webmaster Referrals and Sales Reporting to the back end. Though we’ve been tracking it all along, you can now SEE how many Webmasters you’ve referred, what they have earned this month, and the total amount they have earned over time.
If you don’t know about the Webmaster Referral Bonus, you should! It’s an extra 5% sales commission that you could be earning on sales by other Webmasters that you refer to the Stockroom.com Affiliate Program.
You can learn more about the Webmaster referral bonus and how to promote using your affiliate code in the Linking Guide at www.stockroom.com/affiliates.
If you have a co-branded store, anyone who signs up using the *Webmasters* link on your store is automatically referred with your code during signup.
