PoolAndSpa.com Celebrates 30th Anniversary On The Internet
PoolAndSpa.com, a Florida based online retailer of swimming pool and hot tub parts and supplies, is celebrating their 30th year in business on the internet.
Originally started as lihottubs.com (short for Long Island Hot Tubs), their first web site was created in late 1993 and launched in 1994 as an offshoot of their New York based retail hot tub store, Long Island Hot Tubs. “We opened our first hot tub store way back in 1984” says Daniel Harrison, the company’s President, “And we had a small mail order catalog business selling hot tub supplies as well.”
He continues that “As soon as we all started hearing about this “new” thing called the internet back in 1993, we just adopted it as a new way to reach out to more hot tub owners nationwide in order to offer our hot tub and spa supplies to a larger audience”.
Back in 1993 there were very few web sites at all, and very few internet users. However Harrison saw this new technology as a valuable tool for his single location hot tub store. “At that time, we were placing newspaper and yellow page ads, and doing some local TV commercials. We also had our monthly Newsletter & Mail Order Catalog called Hot Tub Life. We did as much advertising as we could locally, but there was just no way we could afford any sort of national advertising. That is why we keyed in on the internet so quickly” Harrison reports.
Once swimming pool supplies were added to their mail order catalog business in 1997, they changed the web site URL name to PoolAndSpa.com, to better reflect the content and the products they were offering. And as they say… the rest is history.
PoolAndSpa.com went on to become the oldest consumer web site in the pool and spa industry. They have continued to expand both their web site and operation facilities throughout the years. Harrison continues “There are very few web sites still in business that were around when we started on the internet in 1994. We were actually selling on the web before Amazon and ebay. Our little lihottubs.com site was really one of the very first sites in the world to ever even do e-commerce. That word (e-commerce) was not even in common usage way back in 1994. I don’t think that word was even invented until like 1995!” he says.
When Betty Cater, the director of Marketing for PoolAndSpa.com, was asked for her recipe for success, she says “There has never really been a secret recipe for success when it comes to the internet. What works well for one year does not necessarily work so great the next year. The search engines change quite frequently, so it is very important to stay aware of all the newest trends on the web.”
She continues that “PoolAndSpa.com is kind of like a book that is never really completed. Our staff is creating and/or changing pages on a daily basis. That’s how we have so many thousands of pages on our site. After 30 years, we have had literally hundreds of employees work on the various sections of our site – which taken as a whole, gives the end user a great website experience.”
Daniel Harrison
Site Sponsorships have always played an important part of the PoolAndSpa.com formula for success. Dan Harrison says that “We started to offer online Sponsorships and display advertising on our site in 1998. We never really got involved with selling swimming pools or hot tubs online, but we were constantly being asked by our web visitors for recommendations about which pool or hot tub brands they should buy. So one thing led to another and we developed a unique Sponsorship program that we offered to pool and spa manufacturers.”
Jeff Baxter, the Promotions Manager of PoolAndSpa.com says that “Basically if you had something that we did not sell on our site, we would let you place ads for it. Over the years, the amount of pool and spa manufacturers advertising on our site has steadily increased.” He continues “We do not have any conflict of interest between our E-commerce Division and our Marketing Division, so everyone is happy. It’s a win-win for everyone!”
With literally hundreds of millions of visitors, and millions of dollars in sales, PoolAndSpa.com has stood the test of time – and is surely a testament to the fact that even today – niche web sites still command a large audience. While Amazon, Walmart and ebay now have started to offer pool and spa products for sale, the more instructional and content driven niche sites in any industry will always have a strong following. PoolAndSpa.com fulfills a needed pool and hot tub educational space – that the big box type e-tailers of the world have no desire to get involved with.
Daniel Harrison Playing With Some Pool Toys!
What’s new and upcoming for PoolAndSpa.com in 2024? Harrison reports that “We will be continuing to expand our Social presence this year. We also created a brand new App for 2024. We also just finished a 3 month project that involved moving and upgrading all of our web servers to the fastest back-end technology out there. Our sites are now all super fast!” He continues that “Our online Newsletter site was totally redesigned in 2023, and we will continue to build that out in 2024, adding a lot more content. We just launched a new site called PoolAndSpaCovers.com which focuses strictly on pool and hot tub covers and accessories. We also just finished up a total re-design of our mobile site M.PoolAndSpa.com. Mobile sales have now become a large segment of online orders from our customers! In that site we have also added a Home And Patio Living section, providing thousands of new products in the home, backyard and patio space.”
For all those who have a pool, swim spa or hot tub, PoolAndSpa.com continues to be a true leader and trend setter for the pool and spa industry. And most likely will be for decades to come!
Congratulations to the entire staff at PoolAndSpa.com for 3 decades of terrific work!
Visit PoolAndSpa.com here:
https://www.poolandspa.com/
Visit PoolAndSpaCovers.com here:
https://www.poolandspacovers.com/
Visit M.PoolAndSpa.com here:
https://m.poolandspa.com/
