Putting Outdoors Online

Guide to E-Commerce Technology

E-commerce startup (www.beoutdoors.com) beOutdoors.com is betting that consumers will deck the halls with fishing line, sleeping bags, binoculars and other outdoor gear this holiday season, according to company founder, President and CEO Randy Hoffman, a 16-year veteran of the outdoor recreation industry.
     He says that the combination of e-commerce and outdoor recreation product retailing is a natural fit that no one has exploited yet on the Internet. He claims that beOutdoors is the only e-tailer to aggregate the boating, camping, fishing, flying and hunting markets. The Web site offers more than 15,000 outdoor recreation products for sale in a single Internet location, says Hoffman.
     To tap into the market, beOutdoors is employing a combination of offline and online advertising and promotion. The Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based company is an anchor tenant in the Camping and Outdoors section of (www.aol.com) America Online's shopping mall, it says, and it is the exclusive camping and outdoors e-tailer on (www.msnbcsports.com) MSNBCSports.com.
     The site will focus on content and community as well as commerce, Hoffman says. The e-tailer will provide information related to outdoor activities and lifestyles to draw visitors interested in learning more about their favorite pursuits, and beOutdoors customers will be able to participate in product reviews and community forums, use the site as their personal email box and receive email promotions about special sales and other services.
     The beOutdoors site went live on November 23. The site also allows customers to go directly to any of the five storefronts: