How the web helps Mountain Equipment scale new multi-channel heights
Not every retailer needs to have massive economies of scale or a big name brand to use the web to achieve better multi-channel merchandising. A case in point is Mountain Equipment Co-op, a multi-channel retailer of outdoor apparel and gear.
Mountain Equipment, No. 343 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, is a member-owned retail cooperative headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. The cooperative sells on the web and through the mail, but also has 10 stores across Canada.
Though the web generated only about $6.8 million of the co-op’s 2004 total sales of $152 million, Mountain Equipment is using the Internet as an effective multi-channel tool to keep pace with larger chains such as Coast Mountain Sports.
The co-op’s multi-channel plan includes a buy-online, pick-up-in-store program, web-enabled kiosks, an online stock check, a web-based gifts registry and an online gear swap. In 2006, Mountain Equipment will expand its e-commerce program to include a new French language site that will comply with Quebec’s relatively strict language laws. “We are translating approximately 800,000 words that will comply,” says George Weetman, web content and marketing manager for Mountain Equipment.
The French language site, scheduled to go live next spring, will reside along with Mountain Equipment’s English language site, mec.ca, on a new e-commerce platform upgrade from Blue Martini Software Inc. The new upgrade went live in July and enhances performance with faster applications for site search and other programs. “Page download times have been cut in half to roughly 2.5 seconds,” he says.
Originally Mountain Equipment used the Internet and its web site as a lower cost means of building brand awareness for its stores, catalogs and online shopping options. But over time the web has emerged as a cornerstone of the co-op’s multi-channel strategy. For instance, the co-op’s purchase-online, pick-up-in-store program is generating significant new store sales. Each month Mountain Equipment averages 1,000 store pickups. About 35% of people ordering online and picking up their merchandise in the store make an additional purchase of about $27. “That’s about a 30% increase in transactional value,” Weetman says.
Today Mountain Equipment has web-enabled kiosks in all stores, but is rolling out a new interactive kiosk program in 2006. The new web-enabled kiosks will be enhanced by giving both employees and shoppers access to all online and store inventory.
The web as part of a multiple channel sales strategy is also helping Mountain Equipment reduce its printing and mailing costs by migrating more catalog sales to the web. By the end of the year about two-thirds of all direct marketing sales will come from the web, the co-op says. “Our multi-channel strategy has also reduced the cost of serving our members living in remote areas through shifting order activity from full-service phone sales to self-serve web sales,” Weetman says.
As of August, Mountain Equipment had web sales of about $4.1 million, an increase of about 11% from the first eight months of 2004.
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