David Clements Buys Cheesecake.com, Launches Site
Monday, August 16th, 2010
Well-known face in domainer circles launches ambitious ecommerce operations.
David Clements, former business partner of Rick Latona, has launched an e-commerce site at Cheesecake.com.
The domain name was originally listed with Latona’s for an auction, but the domain didn’t sell. After leaving the company, Clements negotiated through Latona to purchase the domain name. The domain was reported sold for $100,000 in May.
Cheesecake.com is a full-fledged e-commerce operation, currently involving a number of drop shippers and bakeries. The company is looking at buying locations around the country to ramp up production and sales.
After departing from Rick Latona’s business, Clements started looking at opportunities with Cheesecake.com co-founder Harvey Kaplan. Clements had helped Kaplan buy and sell domain names in the past.
“Harvey and I discussed getting in to e-commerce, and this was one of the ones that came across our radar that we thought we could make work,” said Clements. “We understood the challenges we were getting into,” he added.
“In a lot of ways we’ve gotten into the shipping business,” he said. “People that haven’t done this don’t realize how expensive shipping a perishable product like this is.”
In addition to the keyword power of Cheesecake.com, Clements was attracted to its existing SEO value. Clements said the company will launch an affiliate program within a couple weeks and is interested in hearing from people who would like to join.
Further Reading:
Daves a great guy and the very motivated type it seems. I bet he does well with this.
There is always someone that will want to send a cheesecake….regardless of the price.
Getting a primo cheesecake is a killer gift.
Thanks for the http://www.cheesecake.com coverage and the mention of our upcoming affiliate program. Anyone interested in more information on the affiliate program should email me at david [at] cheesecake.com.
fantastic domain… hope they knock it stiff with their business/development efforts
I had a great phone conversation with David
last May. One of the topics we began to
discuss was his recent purchase of cheesecake.
I told him it was natural.
That he could make entire business with that
domain.
Which was already planning to do.
I wish him the best of luck.
And, I’m positive it will be very successful.
Just don’t eat the profit.
Should be interesting. One of those things youd have to had done tons of research for first, is the market there, if so is the share big enough, how many cakes to pay off and make out etc. Im sure they did all that so be nice to know how it pans out.
What? No Key Lime Pie!
Brian, LOL, “knock it stiff,” I had to look that one up. Yes, I hope we knock ‘em dead, too.
Meyer, When we were taste testing, there was one day that we had over 200,000 calories was on one table in front of us. Lucky for us that there is a limit to the amount of sweets anyone can eat in one sitting….
Josh, The research is never done. We look at metrics every day.
John, Noted. Give me a few weeks and I will add it to the bakery schedule.
Best of luck David! Will definitely be ordering.
Great domain. Maybe now you can go after NewYorkCheesecake.com. Maybe you can affiliate with Juniors or another one of those heavy hitting cheesecake companies like Cheesecake Factory and or some NYC locations.
Very string domain that will always generate interest. The only downside is the cost of shipping. Some would rather visit a local Cheesecake Factory to buy a cheesecake than to pay to ship one.
You’ll have to accept all forms of payment to broaden your customer base. Good luck on your venture.
Awesome idea. I’m really surprised that Cheesecake Fact*ry didn’t snatch this domain up for $100K…they could have done alot of business shipping cheesecakes.
eCommerce is still in it’s infancy. I see so many category killer domains sitting on parked pages just waiting for an offer…I’m amazed at what is still available.
Good luck with the biz, guys.
David — I’d be interested in the Aff Prog…
I have — DeliciousCheesecake.com to use
for marketing…
I’m glad to see you resurface… (smile)
~Patricia Kaehler – DomainBELL
Best of luck to both of you!!
I would be interested in helping to promote cheesecake.com
801-854-2670
I wanted to thank all my fellow domain community friends that I have known for over 11 years in this business for their support.
“Development” was a hot topic for many years but was never easy to be successful at.
The problem was with so many good domains,
which one to pick..
Domain Deficit Disorder (DDD) is a common condition facing me and other owners of great domains.
The condition can be paralyzing because there are simply TOO many choices to be made
about which one(s) to develop.. each having it’s own unique set of challenges.
So… many like myself tried developing too many at once but were unable to FOCUS and see through any single one.
After a while, it becomes clear that you must focus 100% on ONE business and go for it.
I have a lot of good domains but no category killing one worders until now.
Building an Ecommerce biz based on a killer generic is a truly unique opportunity.
When David approached me about being partners in Cheesecake.com it took only a few seconds to say “Hell YES”! …
These opportunities come maybe once in a lifetime for a “domainer” and I was more than ready to accept the offer and challenge.
Nothing is easy and it’s going to take a lot of work, but my focus is 100% on making Cheesecake.com a successful business.
The only thing that truly concerns me is because the product is so good, I may become my own best customer
Great job guys! Let’s get ready for Christmas!
Warren
Would like to have financial news from another killer brand (candy.com)