After 9 months of operating a members-only shopping platform, Design/story opened their doors to the general public. Anyone can now choose and buy inventory from the website's Collections, which include hundreds of lifestyle and design products. Collections are centered around various themes, the first one - 'I Need A Drink' - offerring hand-picked interior decoration goods that help unwind at home after work. Desgin/story's main distinction from competitors in design-oriented e-commerce websites is the story-telling part of a shopping experience they offer.

After hand-picking designers and their products around the globe for a particular theme, D/S curates stories telling how the item was designed and made, by whom and why. Members of the community (bloggers, designers and design-enthusiasts) are invited to participate and add to the story-telling experience with comments and audio-visual content.

Apart from the open Collections, Design/story still includes a members-only section that grants early access to new collections and sales events featuring exclusive offers and promotions, limited and special editions. You can become a member for free by signing up on the D/S's website. Members that invite their friends get $10 each on their user account.

Design/story service was launched in September 2010. The website acts as a marketing tool for individual designers: D/S does not hold the inventory themselves but simply links potential buyers to various brands and designers. Their collections are also oriented at design-conscious shoppers on a budget, meaning their prices are above those of the mass-produced items but still affordable for the general public.

Design/story is headquartered in San Francisco but keeps their R&D and product development in Helsinki, Finland. Though the company does not publicly disclose their user metric, they point out that their userbase has been more than doubling every quarter through virality.

The website's shopping conversion is above industry average at 2.0%. Design/story users on average buy 2.1 items and a typical shopping cart is around $85 (which allows for many repeat purchases). Though many customers spend $1,000+ at any given time.

Design/story's approach to shopping is to entertain their customers. They believe that today people purchase goods online mostly during breaks in busy working days, spending a few minutes at a time glancing through items of interest. Capturing that decreasing attention spam with appealing images and short interesting texts inspires and engages users, converting them to potential buyers.

Besides, people with busy schedules who enjoy stylish homes are often willing to pay extra for convenience. Shopping online offers that convenience with many option to choose from. While Design/story faces competition from similar e-commerce websites, they already managed to capture a fraction of design-oriented consumers. Now that their platform is open for the general public, that fraction is set to grow.