STATE OF THE INDUSTRM REPORT - Outdoor Industry Association

internet/catalog: selection and price
In 2004, Internet/catalog showed the strongest growth of all distribution channels,
but Mountain Gear President, Paul Fish, says not to read too much into it. “Ten
years ago I might have claimed I was driving the outdoor online business,” he says.
“Today it’s driven simply by the fact that that’s what Target, Wal-Mart and EBay are
doing.” Fish says there’s no great difference between the online shopper and the
folks coming into his brick and mortar store in Spokane, except for one thing: “a
whole chunk of online business happens simply because someone happens to find
you, and you’ve got the product they want in stock.” Still, in the August ’03 to July
’04 timeframe, Internet sales of outdoor product grew to comprise 16.3 percent of
total outdoor product sales and they’re poised to keep growing.
“While physical retail will always hold certain advantages
over e-commerce — namely that customers can touch and
feel the gear and try things on — even the most strident
brick and mortar proponents understand the need to
incorporate e-tail.” — Kim coupounas of golite
Jim Holland, CEO of Backcountry.com, thinks that’s because an increasingly
Internet-comfortable consumer finds value in the Web’s fast, easy and
comprehensive offering. “Competent e-tailers are in a position to put all the most
relevant information, from objective customer reviews to detailed features to
comparative product specs, right in front of their customers,” he says. Holland’s
“... research shows that customers who shop multiple
channels tend to be bigger spenders and more integrated
into the outdoors. they’re enthusiasts,
which means we can all earn more of
their business.” — paul fish of mountain gear
// www.outdoorindustry.org
feeling is that no one offers better customer service
than the customer himself, provided he has access
to the information he needs. For core consumers this
may be true; average e-tail price points for specialty
outdoor web sites run slightly higher than in-store
specialty sales, indicating that the Web attracts a highend
shopper. As well, Holland says, e-tailers can afford
to carry niche products that have a limited audience
or customer base, making Web retail more relevant to
the core customer.
“While physical retail will always hold certain advantages
over e-commerce—namely that customers can
touch and feel the gear and try things on,” notes Kim
Coupounas, Cofounder and CEO of GoLite, “even the
most strident brick and mortar proponents understand
the need to incorporate e-tail.” There will always be
people who research gear online and buy it in physical
retail stores—a fact that specialty retailers like
Adventure 16 are counting on. But surprisingly, that
may not be as detrimental to dedicated online retailers
as one might think. Mountain Gear research shows
that customers who shop multiple channels tend to be
bigger spenders and more integrated into the outdoors.
“They’re enthusiasts,” says Paul Fish, “which means
we can all earn more of their business.”