Identifiers, such as name, email address, phone number, username, online identifier, device identifier, IP address, and social media handle
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you or the devices you use to access digital services, such as websites and applications.
- Companies that provide services on our behalf (e.g., installers).
- Security and fraud prevention services that help us confirm that transactions are valid and otherwise help us protect our assets and you.
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers and the devices they use to access digital content.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Shipping providers that update address information.
- Social media platforms.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
- Payment and transaction processors.
- Communications and mailing vendors.
- Other customers that may provide us with your information to recommend a product or service or, ship products to you, or list you as a recipient of products or services.
Why do we collect it?
- Fulfilling orders and processing returns.
- Customer care.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Registering you for a website or program.
- Communicating with you.
- Improving our products and services, including improving digital content.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Identifying the devices you use to access digital content.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as shipping vendors, installers, providers of digital analytics services, and fraud prevention services.
- Manufacturers of products.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Financial services companies, such as for processing payments.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Advertising partners.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Internet activity, such as browsing history, search history, information about your interaction with our websites, applications, electronic communications, or advertisements
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you or the devices you use to access digital services, such as websites and applications.
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers and the devices they use to access digital content.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Social media platforms.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
Why do we collect it?
- Fulfilling orders and processing returns.
- Customer care.
- Communicating with you.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Improving our products and services, including digital content.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Identifying the devices you use to access digital content.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as providers of digital analytics services and fraud prevention services.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Advertising partners.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
Commercial Information, such as products or services purchased, purchasing history, products or services you like, reviews you submit, or where you shop
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you or the devices you use to access digital services, such as websites and applications.
- Security and fraud prevention services that help us confirm that transactions are valid and otherwise help us protect our assets and you.
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers and the devices they use to access digital content.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Social media platforms.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
Why do we collect it?
- Fulfilling orders and processing returns.
- Customer care.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Registering you for a website or program.
- Communicating with you.
- Improving our products and services, including improving digital content.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Identifying the devices you use to access digital content.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as shipping vendors, installers, providers of digital analytics services, and fraud prevention services.
- Manufacturers of products.
- Financial services companies, such as for processing payments.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Advertising partners.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Payment Information, such as credit or debit card, check, PayPal account, or gift card
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you.
Why do we collect it?
- Fulfilling orders and processing returns.
- Customer care.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as data storage providers.
- Financial services companies, such as for processing payments.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Demographic Information, such as age and gender
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you.
- Companies that provide services on our behalf.
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers and the devices they use to access digital content.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Social media platforms.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
- Other customers that may provide us with your information to recommend a product or service or, ship products to you, or list you as a recipient of products or services.
Why do we collect it?
- Improving our products and services, including digital content.
- Communicating with you.
- Customer care.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as shipping vendors, providers of digital analytics services, and fraud prevention services.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Advertising partners.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Location Information, such as location based on IP address or other network activity (Please see the Our Tracking Tools section for more information.)
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you or the devices you use to access digital services, such as websites and applications.
- Security and fraud prevention services that help us confirm that transactions are valid and otherwise help us protect our assets and you.
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers and the devices they use to access digital content.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
Why do we collect it?
- Communicating with you.
- Customer care.
- Improving our products and services, including digital content.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Identifying the devices you use to access digital content.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as providers of digital analytics services and fraud prevention services.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Advertising partners.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Audio recordings of customer care conversations
Where do we collect it from?
- Via call recordings.
Why do we collect it?
- Improving our products and services, including digital content.
- Customer care.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
- Training.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as fraud prevention services.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
Inferences regarding your preferences, interests, and other characteristics
Where do we collect it from?
- Directly from you
- Companies that provide services on our behalf (e.g., installers and others that communicate with you about projects).
- Marketing companies that help us learn about our customers.
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information.
- Social media platforms.
- Advertising companies and content publishers that present you with our ads.
- By analyzing the information we collect about you and other customers.
Why do we collect it?
- Communicating with you.
- Customer care.
- Improving our products and services, including improving digital content.
- Learning about customer trends and interests.
- Administering contests and promotions.
- Personalizing digital content.
- Delivering marketing communications and advertising.
- Identifying the devices you use to access digital content.
- Fraud prevention, security, and asset protection.
Who do we share it with?
- Service providers that process information on our behalf, such as shipping vendors, providers of digital analytics services, and fraud prevention services.
- Joint marketing partners.
- Any successor to all or part of our business.
- Advisors and consultants.
- Advertising partners.
- Law enforcement, public and government authorities, and other entities as we deem reasonably necessary to comply with law, support investigations, and protect the rights and property of you, us, and others.
- Our Affiliates and subsidiaries.
How Do We Collect Information?
We collect information directly from you.
For example, we collect information when you:
- Register for an account or survey
- Make an online purchase
- Use an online forum, submit a question or answer to our Product Q & A or provide us with comments or reviews or contact our call centers
- Upload or share a photo, submit a request, submit information, or post other digital content through one of our websites, applications or via social media interactions on third party websites like Facebook or Twitter
- Register for one of our programs or offers
- Participate in a sweepstakes, contest, promotion, or program
- Subscribe to emails
- Return a product
- Apply or inquire about employment
- Submit information via our websites
We collect information from you passively.
We use tools like browser cookies, flash cookies, pixel tags, and web beacons to collect information when you use our websites and applications or interact with our emails. For more information about these tools and the choices you may have, please read the Our Tracking Tools section.
We collect information from Affiliates.
We may receive information about you from our Affiliates.
We collect information from third parties.
In the course of operating our business and serving you, we collect information from a variety of third parties. For example, we collect information from:
- Shipping companies
- Installers
- Subscription providers
- Your friends and contacts
- Marketing companies that help us learn about consumer interests and trends
- Companies that supplement our customer records with additional information
- Online advertising and analytics providers
- Social media platforms
- Mailing vendors
- Companies that help us process payments
- Service providers that operate on our behalf and collect information
- Security and fraud prevention providers
- Manufacturers and other businesses with which we conduct joint offers or programs
How Do We Use Information?
Below please find examples of how we use the information we collect
To respond to you and provide you with goods and services you request.
- Fulfilling orders, ensuring proper delivery or providing services
- Administering your participation in a contest, sweepstakes or other promotion or sending you prizes you might have won
- Registering you for a particular program or service
- Processing a refund (to learn more about refund policy, click here)
- Responding to a product or service review
To improve our business, products, and services.
- Enhancing our websites, and applications
- Identifying ways to make our products and services better
- Developing new ways to purchase and browse our products and services
- Personalizing the content on our digital services (e.g., websites) so you have a consistent experience
To identify and assess website and device application trends and customer interests.
- Recommending products and services that may interest you
- Identifying the devices you use to interact with us so that we can provide you with a consistent experience
- Identifying your interests based on your interactions with us and information we have received from third parties or publicly available sources
- Updating our product inventories to meet projected demand
For security and asset protection purposes.
- Processing and tracking refunds
- Detecting and preventing fraud and malicious activities on our digital offerings and in your account
For our marketing.
- Sending you communications about special promotions or offers via regular mail, email, phone, or other electronic channels, including ads on social media platforms
- Sending you newsletters and other information you have requested
- Informing you of new in-store or digital products and service offerings
- Passing along information about offers from our Affiliates and other companies we think you might find interesting
You can update certain marketing communications preferences by following the instructions in the Manage Communications Preferences section below.
To provide you with ads and other communications that align with your interests, we may use information collected across different online services and collected from the various devices you use. For example, if you view a product on our website, we may arrange for you to see ads for that product or similar products on our or third party websites and applications.
To communicate with you about your account or our relationship.
- Notifying you about changes to this Privacy Policy, the Terms of Use of our websites or device applications, or changes to any of our programs in which you might be enrolled
- Updating you regarding shipping, product availability, product recalls, or guarantee information
- Sending you other transactional or relationship communications
For employment purposes.
- Processing and responding to your application for or inquiry regarding employment with us.
For social media engagement.
- When you engage with our content on or through social networking websites, plug-ins and applications, you may allow us to have access to certain social media account information (e.g., name, username, email address, gender) as determined by the settings of the social media platforms to deliver the content or as part of the operation of the website, plug-in or application
- Such social media platforms may collect information about your use of our services and may notify other users of the platform about your activities on our websites and device applications
- These social media platforms may also use cookies or other technologies to provide services or track your online activities over time and across multiple websites and device applications. Your interactions with social media features are governed by the respective privacy policies of the social media platforms
For other uses we may disclose to you.
- We may also use information for purposes disclosed to you at the point of collection, as authorized by you, or as otherwise permitted or required by law.
Information Sharing
We may share your information for our business purposes and as legally required or permitted by law. Please see below for examples of circumstances in which we share information.
With third parties who perform services on our behalf.
- Service providers, such as our delivery service providers who ship and deliver your orders
- Providers of security and payment services
- Shipping and mailing vendors
- Providers of digital analytics services
- Third parties that help us communicate with you
- Marketing and advertising companies that help us learn about our customers or deliver advertisements
- We might also share information with the vendors and manufacturers of our products and services to respond to your reviews and questions
With any successor to all or part of our business.
- For example, if all or part of our business is sold or otherwise acquired, we may sell or disclose our customer lists and other personal information we collect in preparation for or as part of that transaction
If we think we have to in order to comply with the law.
- For example, we will disclose information to respond to a court order or subpoena. We may also disclose information if a government agency or investigatory body requests it
With our business partners.
- For example, we might share information with one of our Affiliates or a business partner who is running a joint promotion with us or who provides a product or service in partnership with us
- And we may share information with joint marketing partners
With advertising and marketing partners.
- To manage and deliver advertising, including by placing ads on the websites and applications you access
- To measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns
- To identify the ads you have already seen, so that you don’t have to see the same ads too many times
- To better understand your preferences and interests
For security and fraud prevention.
- We will disclose information to detect, prevent, and investigate fraud or unlawful activities.
- We may also disclose information to collect debts
At your direction.
- For example, if you ask us to provide your information to a third-party to facilitate the delivery of services or resolution of a dispute
We disclose the following categories of personal information for our business purposes, such as to third parties who perform services on our behalf:
- Identifiers
- Demographics
- Commercial information
- Information about web and application activities and interactions with connected devices
- Location information
- Recordings of customer care conversations
- Professional information
- Inferences regarding your preferences, interests, and other characteristics
We do not share your information with third parties in exchange for money. We do share certain personal information in exchange for insights and other valuable services. California law treats such sharing as a “sale” even if no money is exchanged. California law treats such sharing as a “sale” even if no money is exchanged. These disclosures involve:
- Identifiers
- Demographics
- Commercial information
- Information about web and application activities and interactions with connected devices;
- Location information
- Professional information
- Inferences regarding your preferences, interests, and other characteristics
Our Sites and Children
Our websites and device applications are not created for children. To our knowledge we neither collect online information from nor sell information regarding children under 18. If you are a parent or guardian and think we have information about your child, please email info@wondershades.com. To learn more about how to protect your child online.
Your California Privacy Rights
If you live in California and have an established business relationship with us, you can request a list of the personal information we have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. We will also give you a list of the third parties that have received your information. You can make a request one time each year, by writing to us at info@wondershades.comor at:
Global Custom Commerce
10255 Richmond Ave Ste 300
Houston TX 77042
Attn: California Privacy.
Please mention in your letter that you are making a “California Shine the Light” inquiry. We will respond within 30 days.
The California Consumer Privacy Act provides California residents with the following privacy rights:
- Right to Know: Consumers have a right to request information about the personal information that we collect, use, disclose, and sell.
- Right to Delete: Consumers have a right to request the deletion of personal information that we have collected from them, though we may be permitted to retain personal information for certain purposes;
- Right to Opt Out of Sales: While we do not share your personal information with third parties in exchange for money, we disclose certain information in exchange for insights and other valuable services, and California law treats such sharing as a “sale” even if no money is exchanged; please go to our Do Not Sell My Personal Information page to opt out and for more information.
- Right to Opt Out of Financial Incentive Programs that we may offer.
- Non-Discrimination: We may not discriminate against you for exercising your rights under the CCPA. We may, however, provide a different level of service or charge a different rate if the difference is reasonably related to the value of your information.
If you are a California resident or an authorized agent acting on behalf of a California resident and would like to exercise one of these rights, please visit our Exercise Your Privacy Rights or call us at 800-394-1769. Please note that we may require additional information from you in order to honor your request, and there may be circumstances where we will not honor your request, as permitted under the law. For example, if you request deletion, we may need to retain certain personal information to comply with our legal obligations.
Security
When you place orders on our websites, all of your order information, including your credit card number and delivery address, is transmitted through the Internet using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. SSL technology causes your browser to encrypt your order information before transmitting it to our secure server. SSL technology, an industry standard, is designed to prevent someone other than operators of our websites from capturing and viewing your personal information.
While we use industry standard means to protect our websites and your information, the Internet is not 100% secure. The measures we use are appropriate for the type of information we collect. We cannot promise that your use of our websites will be completely safe. We encourage you to use caution when using the Internet. Online access to your personal information is protected with a password you select. We strongly recommend that you do not share your password and that you use unique passwords for all of your online accounts.
Links
Our websites contain links to third party websites. If you click on one of those links, you will be taken to websites we do not control. This Privacy Policy does not apply to the information practices of those websites. You should read the privacy policies of other websites carefully. We are not responsible for third party websites.
Contact Us
If you have additional questions or concerns, or would like information about how customers with disabilities may access this policy in an alternative format, you can write to us at privacy@blinds.com or call us at 800-394-1769
Date of Privacy Policy
February 03, 2021
From time to time we may change our privacy policies. We will notify you of any material changes to our Privacy Policy by posting an updated copy on our website. Please check our website periodically for updates.
Our Tracking Tools
Tracking Tools We Use
We collect personal and other information using digital tracking tools, such as cookies and web beacons, when you use our websites, interact with our emails or applications, or otherwise engage with our digital offerings. We also partner with third parties that collect information this way. These third parties may place similar tracking tools on our websites, applications, and advertising to facilitate tracking, advertising, and measurement services.
The tools may collect information about your activities over time and on various digital services offered by us or others.
The tools that we, our vendors, and third parties use include:
- Browser and flash cookies. Cookies are small text files that websites send to your computer or other connected device to identify your browser or to store information or settings. Your browser may provide the ability to be notified when you receive certain types of cookies and how to restrict or disable certain cookies. Flash cookies generally can be disabled only by accessing Adobe Flash settings (information available here)
- Server logs, which record information about the device, browser, operating system, network, and other resources you use to access our digital services
- Web beacons and pixels. These are small electronic images deployed on websites and emails that collect information about how users interact with content
We, our service providers, and third parties use the information collected via these tools to:
- Identify new visitors and users
- Recognize returning customers
- Learn how you came to access our digital services
- Keep you logged into our digital services
- Personalize your experience on our website, device applications, and third-party social networking websites, plug-ins and applications
- Identify your location as determined by the IP address of your devices
- Optimize and tailor our websites and device applications
- Make product recommendations and provide you with advertising content in which we think you will be interested. As part of this customization, we may observe your behaviors on our device applications, our websites, or on other websites and applications. We may also get information about your browsing history and online activities from our trusted business partners and vendors
- Better understand our audience, our customers, our website visitors and device application users, and their respective interests, including by learning about your online activities across devices
- Provide correct pricing and ads for the local store you select
Online Interest-Based Ads
We work with digital advertising and marketing companies to provide you with ads that meet your interests and that enhance your experience with us. These ads may be displayed on websites or device applications operated by us or third parties, and they may be based on information about your activities or preferences collected by us or third parties. For example, if you visit another website and provide your ZIP code, you may see advertising for products available near you on another website. We work with third parties to monitor and optimize ad delivery so that you don’t receive the same ad too many times and to determine whether you were interested in the ads. As noted above, these third parties collect information with their own cookies, pixels, and related tracking technology.
Additionally, we may share aggregated or pseudonymous information (pseudonymous information includes things like: device identifier, type of device, IP addresses, cookies and other information associated with your browsing and app usage) with other companies, such as publishers, advertisers, measurement analytics providers, and others. We do not share information that directly identifies you (information such as name or email address) with these companies.
To learn more about interest-based ads and to opt out of certain types of interest-based advertising and certain other uses of information collected over time and across different online services and devices, click here.
Some of the social media platforms we work with may serve you with interest-based advertising on their platforms. In addition to or instead of the opt out mechanism linked above, you may be able to opt out of their interest-based advertising by changing your advertising preferences in the platforms after you log in.
To exercise interest-based advertising opt outs: Certain coalitions of advertisers allow consumers to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from members of the coalitions. Please follow the links below to opt out of receiving interest-based advertising from members of these coalitions. You will need to exercise these opt outs on each browser on each device for which you wish to opt out of interest-based advertising.
To limit mobile device interest-based advertising: You can adjust your advertising preferences on mobile devices through your device settings:
- iOS Devices: Go to Settings > Privacy > Advertising (at the bottom of the screen) > Turn on Limit Ad Tracking
- Android Devices: Go to Google Settings > Ads > Opt Out of Interest-Based Ads
When you opt out of receiving interest-based advertising, you may still see general audience advertising regarding our products and services. We may deliver advertising to a general audience or place advertising on websites and other platforms that relate to our advertisements. For example, if you opt out of interest-based advertising and visit a do-it-yourself website, you may see advertising on the website that promotes products and services related to the content.
Controlling Our Tracking Tools
This section provides you with information about the options available to you to control our tracking tools. Some of our tracking tools share information with third parties in exchange for their support in enhancing your experiences with us, improving our ability to serve you, or keeping you aware of our products, services, and offers.
- Disable browser cookies: Your browser may give you the ability to control cookies, some of which may enable third parties to collect data about your use of our websites. You can adjust your browser settings to block all cookies. Certain browsers also allow you to limit the blocking of cookies to specific websites. Instructions for blocking cookies on commonly used browsers can be found at the links below. You will need to adjust the settings on each browser and on each device for which you wish to block cookies. Please note that disabling cookies may limit the functionality of our websites.
- Disable Flash cookies: Third parties may collect data about your usage of our websites via Flash cookies. To disable Flash cookies, follow these instructions. This setting will need to be adjusted on each device for which you wish to block Flash cookies.
If you disable cookies on your browser, our Opt Out of Sale tool will no longer work.
We may update this section from time to time with information about new tools that may be available to you to register your preferences.
Your Choices Regarding Location Information
If you use our websites, we may collect location data obtained from your IP address. We use this location data to provide product pricing and learn about our customers.
Our “Do Not Track” policy: Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. These browser features are not uniform. So, we are not currently set up to respond to those signals.
Information For Applicants
This section describes how we collect and share information in connection with your application for employment. The above sections of this Privacy Policy do not apply to our processing of applicant information.
We collect the following categories of personal information in association with your application for employment with us:
Identifiers: such as your name, email address, phone numbers, username, online identifier, device identifier, IP address, social media handle, physical address, and government-issued identifiers.
Demographics: such as your date and place of birth; age; gender; nationality; native language; family and marital status; veteran status; details of family members and dependents (name, date of birth/age, relationship to applicant or candidate); and emergency contact name, address and telephone number.
Information regarding eligibility to work: such as passport or visa information.
Financial information: certain financial or banking information.
Work history: such as position/title; location; work address; start and end-dates of employment; contact information for former employer(s) or other persons or entities for which work was performed; business unit; function; organizational unit; dates and reasons for hire, promotion, transfer, status change and termination; employment status (full-time or part-time); employment type; job performance and related evaluative information; information relating to awards, certifications, and professional associations and volunteer activities; language proficiency; skills.
Education information: such as education level, training, development, professional degrees, and certificates.
Inferences and other characteristics: such as any observations we may make based on your application or interview, and information provided by your references. We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- Processing your application
- Evaluating your qualifications
- Administering and managing our recruitment processes
- Managing payroll and compensation
- Developing financial and employment metrics
- Budgeting, forecasting, and reporting
- Monitoring and complying with legal requirements
- Responding to internal or external audits and inquiries, law enforcement requests, or requests from administrative or judicial authorities
- Monitoring and promoting compliance with our policies and procedures
- Security
If you provide us with personal information about members of your family and/or other dependents (e.g., for emergency contact), it is your responsibility to provide them with the information contained in this section.
NEWSROOM
Blinds.com, a Home Depot company and flagship property of Global Custom Commerce, celebrates its 25th anniversary as an e-commerce retailer. A long-time industry leader in the configurable home décor space, company leaders reflect on how innovation, customer engagement, and experimenting without fear grew the company from humble beginnings in a Houston garage to a technological partner and innovation leader for the world’s largest home improvement retailer.
“We wanted to be the role model for integration into The Home Depot,” says Steve O’Connor, President of GCC Operations. “Being an ambidextrous organization means we can offer the optimal experience in our blinds business, as well as own and grow the technology which powers new and innovative experiences in The Home Depot ecosystem.”
Early Innovators
Blinds.com debuted on the internet in 1996 as “NoBrainerBlinds.” It was the first e-commerce platform to sell custom, made-to-measure window treatments entirely online. While online orders were still processed by hand back then, it marked a significant moment in the company’s history – a fearless embrace of emerging technology combined with an “anything-it-takes” attitude to provide customers with the best service.
Experimenting without fear of failure would become a core value for the organization. “Our core value of experimenting without fear of failure is the foundation of our atmosphere of innovation,” said Kristen Decker, GCC Director of Category Experience. “It’s okay to be wrong. It’s okay to suggest something. You can test it and find out that your hypothesis was completely wrong and you’re not going to get in trouble. You’re not going to lose trust from the team – instead you’ll be asked what you learned from the experiment. It’s not only encouraged – it’s expected.”
Technology for Today and Tomorrow
Global Custom Commerce made investments in technology and innovation as the company grew. Besides offering a wide range of customizable window treatment styles with upgradable features, the brand was always looking for creative ways to make shopping for home décor easier for customers.
Blinds.com even launched its own private label of products, offering high quality, affordable window treatments alongside other top brands and styles. Other innovative products such as Simplicity Shutters made one of the most difficult window treatments to install easier for customers.
As one of the early adopters of digital print-on-demand technology in the décor space, Blinds.com and its manufacturers embraced new printing technology to reduce wastewater and excess fabric waste when creating custom materials. In 2020, Blinds.com announced SimplyEco Cellular Shades, an innovative and eco-friendly window treatment made from recycled water bottles. And with strict adherence to the newest child safety laws regarding window treatment cord length and cordless, motorization alternatives, safety and sustainability are at the forefront of the company initiatives.
Before merging with The Home Depot, Blinds.com’s primary focus was making the online shopping experience as easy as possible for customers. Service and technology innovations such as a best-in-class samples shop, free, expert advice from Design Consultants in the Customer Experience Center, mobile-first site optimizations and user experience updates, custom configurator technology, and more led to Blinds.com being a dominant figure in the home décor space.
“We wanted to offer not only the best products available, but the easiest shopping experience available,” says Amber Hall, Vice President of Merchandising at GCC. “From free design consultations to peace of mind surrounding child safety standards, our motto of ‘making it easy’ has always been a priority.”
The advent of Autobahn – Blinds.com’s technology platform which allowed customers to “build” and order their custom window treatments directly from the online product page – marked another significant turning point for the brand.
“Autobahn allowed us to leverage technology in a significant way,” says Seth Todd, GCC Senior Director of Interconnected Retail. “When customers could easily build and configure their custom window treatments, it not only grew the Blinds.com business, but also gave unlimited space for the technology to grow as a platform. The growth and potential of Autobahn was consequential to our merge with The Home Depot in 2014.”