Backcountry.com developing an outlet channel

Backcountry.com has been quietly testing an outlet store, BackcountryOutlet.com, which it expects to announce in an official launch shortly. The outlet store offers overstock from the same high-end outdoor gear vendors whose merchandise Backcountry.com sells in season.

“Our guideline is that if Backcountry.com wouldn’t purchase an item as an in-season product, we won’t purchase it the second time around for the outlet,” says vice president of business development John Bresee. Products on BackcountryOutlet.com will display the model year and the reason the product is in overstock. Bresee says Backcountry worked closely with its vendors to develop the outlet site.

“We kept hearing from our vendors that they didn’t have good options for their overstock. Their big issue was that they felt that if it appeared on a pure overstock site it would diminish their brand,” he says. Bresee adds that because Backcountry.com, No. 182 in Internet Retailer’s Top 300 Guide to retailing web sites, is a full-line retailer for most of the vendors with overstock on sale in BackcountryOutlet.com, it receives overstock lists from the vendors earlier in the cycle than if it were purely an overstock operation. “We’ll get better product up on outlet and sooner,” he says.