Restoration Hardware 2014 Annual Report Download - page 13

• Implementing enhanced in-store, web, and care center customer service and commerce technology to
provide enhanced capabilities to support our luxury customer experience; and
• Continuing our expansion and redefinition of business intelligence capabilities to optimize information
for timely decision making in areas such as supply chain and customer experience.
We are committed to a high level of integration in technology across our business. We believe our approach
to technology demonstrates an appropriate balance of strategic planning and innovation to support both today’s
business and tomorrow’s growth.
Competition
The home furnishings industry is highly competitive. We primarily compete against a large number of
independent retailers that provide unique items and custom-designed product offerings at high price points,
including antique dealers and home furnishings retailers who market to the interior design community. We also
compete with national and regional home furnishings retailers and department stores, as well as with mail order
Source Books and online retailers focused on home furnishings.
We believe we compete primarily on the basis of design, quality, value and customer service. We believe
our distinct combination of design, quality and value allows us to compete effectively and we believe we
differentiate ourselves from competitors based on the strength of our brand, products and our fully integrated
multi-channel business model. We compete with the interior design trade and specialty merchants by providing a
broader product assortment at an exceptional value based both upon the price and quality of our products. We
compete against certain other home furnishings retailers primarily by offering what we believe are superior
quality, highly distinctive design styles and a sophisticated lifestyle presentation in our product offering.
We also believe that our success depends in substantial part on our ability to originate and define product
trends, as well as to timely anticipate, gauge and react to changing consumer demands. Certain of our
competitors are larger and have greater financial, marketing and other resources than us. However, many smaller
specialty retailers may lack the financial resources, infrastructure, scale and national brand identity necessary to
compete effectively with us.
Employees
As of January 31, 2015, we had approximately 4,000 employees, of which approximately 800 were part-
time employees. As of that date, approximately 2,000 of our employees were based in our stores. None of our
employees is represented by a union, and we have had no labor-related work stoppages. We believe our relations
with our employees are good.
Intellectual Property
The “RH”, “Restoration Hardware” and “Baby & Child” trademarks, among others, are registered or are the
subject of pending trademark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and with the
trademark registries of several foreign countries. Each of our trademark registrations is perpetually renewable
provided that we use or continue to use the trademarks in commerce in the particular geographic market and for
the goods or services covered by the registration. In addition, we own many domain names, including
“restorationhardware.com,” “rh.com,” “rhbabyandchild.com,” and others that include our trademarks. These
domain names are perpetually renewable. We own design patents or pending applications to protect the
ornamental appearance of several of our products. These design patents are valid for 14 years from the date of
issuance. We own copyrights, including copyright registrations or pending applications, for several of our Source
Books. We believe that our trademarks, design patents, and copyrights have significant value and we will
vigorously protect them against infringement.
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