That’s what Kirkland, Wash.-based Altrec.com is doing. Maybe its offline approach came from its advisers: former top level executives of two nationally known, highly respected retail companies: Bill Ferry, former vice chairman of Lands’ End Inc., and Ray Johnson, former co-chairman of Nordstrom Inc. and former interim president of Nordstrom.com.

Johnson says 3-year-old Altrec’s solid approach to management is what attracted him to his role. “I’m impressed that this company has the kind of management style that supports employees rather than dictates,” Johnson says. The result is a workforce that produces excellent customer service, a strategy that complements Altrec’s focus on carrying quality brands, he says.

The products are just part of the value at the site, executives say. Another is the content that resembles an online version of an outdoors enthusiast’s magazine. “It’s a lifestyle site, more than just an e-commerce catalog,” says Shannon Stowell, vice president of business development and co-founder. The articles range from equipment advice to features on mountain backpacking, snowshoeing, canoe trips and other adventures. The site gets 500,000 unique visitors a month.

But Stowell and partners CEO Mike Morford and Creative Director Blane Bonnelson are more than outdoor enthusiasts with a retail web site. They’ve also applied basic business principles to running Altrec, such as focusing on innovative customer service. In 1999, Altrec served as a pilot project for the U.S. Postal Service in developing an easy-to-use product-returns program, which it continues to offer today. “Our primary goal is to be a great example of customer service, which will lead to more growth,” Stowell says.

At the same time, Altrec is extending its presence in the outdoors market while leveraging expertise by offering electronic commerce services to some sites and co-branding with others. For instance, it powers web stores for Backpacker magazine and Outward Bound, which offers adventure travel packages. At OnTheAmericanTrail.com, which offers trips based on American historical themes, Altrec operates a store linked to each travel package.

Overall, Altrec wins high marks for giving shoppers what they want, Johnson says. “They walk the walk and talk the talk of taking care of customers,” he says. And an ex-Nordstrom executive certainly should know the walk and the talk when he sees them.

BackCountryStore
Where it’s always cool

The serious climber in search of an ice axe can find some dandy ones at a number of retail sites. But for the tool with latest features—the one that’s not yet out there in the marketplace at large—he might just look first at BackcountryStore.com. The online retailer targets only the experienced hard-core outdoor sports enthusiast, and it supports customer service with expert staff of the same stripe. And after six years, it does it so well that gear manufacturers now use the site for product testing before a full rollout.

BackcountryStore.com has carved out its niche online, then filled it by going deep instead of broad. And it has proven that the virtual model works by doing it all from the small high-range town of Heber City, Utah. One of the site’s secret weapons is a call center staff of hard-core skiers and trekkers. “Our customer service guys are doing things like hiking the Grand Tetons in the spring, a difficult thing to do,” says vice president of marketing John Bresee. “We figured that if these were the people at our call center, we would have a huge advantage. It’s probably our main differentiator.”

Backcountrystore.com also puts “as much truth as possible” on the page, adds Bresee, including such features as unedited reviews from product users—even when negative. The full disclosure policy and the gear experts help attract hard-core enthusiasts who are ahead of trends. Core to the site’s marketing philosophy is that product influencers, who are first to experiment with new gear, will drive others to the site. BackcountryStore.com pursues them by cultivating tight relationships with key manufacturers that can get it products other retailers’ can’t get, at least not first.

“The site features some specialty products that you can’t find on other sites,” notes Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president at Retail Forward. “They do a great job of letting shoppers compare and contrast among different items, from a functionality standpoint as well as from a merchandising perspective.”

Site traffic is up about 90% year over year, and while Bresee won’t disclose dollars, sales are up 150%. Backcountry-Store.com converts a healthy 7% of visitors, either by closing a sale or by getting them to take some desired action such as registering for a newsletter.

Segmented e-mail campaigns and targeted keywords on paid engine Overture Services Inc. help drive repeat sales and new customers, but it’s word of mouth that is one of the most valuable marketing tools for this highly specialized retailer. “There is no one more qualified than the person who comes to our site,” says Bresee. “They’re spreading the message as much as anything.”

Cabela’s
Content rules, but doesn’t overrule

“Content is king” used to be the web mantra—until someone realized content usually doesn’t pay the bills. Then many e-retail sites became only about selling. But just as content didn’t work for many sites, so, too, a focus only on selling doesn’t work for many. And so some are taking a middle approach.

And that’s the story about Cabelas.com. A premier retailer of outdoor gear, with stores and a catalog, Cabela’s has been selling on the web since November 1998. And content has been a key part of the shopping experience. “Shopping pays the bills and that’s one of the things we had to focus on,” says Tim Miller, director of Cabelas.com. “But it’s more than just selling product. A customer may not know what he wants or he may be trying a new sport that could be intimidating, like fly fishing. Content allows him to build on his interests.”

And so just as a customer would ask a store associate about deer hunting or water purification systems, Cabelas.com stocks information on its site. And that content—about activities and products both—likely adds to the site’s success, says Arvin Jawa, manager with retail consultants LakeWest Group. “They achieve loyalty by building community through the information,” he says. “The product information is excellent and probably even more than you need in knowing how to evaluate a product.”

But just as retailers have become more sophisticated about marketing and merchandising on the web, so have they become smarter about content. Cabelas.com is implementing a personalization system from Art Technology Group Inc. that will tie customers more closely to content. Customers register their interests, then whenever they log on, they get relevant content and products. “We personalize it so it has value to customers, but then we watch what happens to make sure it has value for us,” Miller says.

The site features a clean, direct look without flashy graphics or fancy layout. That’s OK, Jawa says. “The user is more interested in product information than graphics quality,” he says. And it contributes to easy navigation. “You always know where in the hierarchy you are and how to get back to categories.” he says. The site also gets points from Jawa for live chat assistance and a special ordering feature, rare for web sites.

For the coming year, Cabela’s expects to add more content but link it even more closely to products. Further, it will use search-based marketing to expand beyond its core hunting and fishing clientele. “Searches have drawn in a new customer,” Miller says. “We’re known in hunting. Now we’re bringing in campers, backpackers and birdwatchers.”

Camping World
On the road again

The stereotype of the RVer is an older, middle class couple. And shoppers at Camping World stores and catalogs fit the category—their average age is 55. But credit CampingWorld.com with attracting a younger crowd to Camping World. The average CampingWorld.com shopper is 10 years younger and more techno-enabled. Evidence: The web site has proven to be an efficient marketer of expensive, high-tech gadgetry. “There’s a new $5,300 satellite product on the site that lets you have broadband Internet connection as you’re driving. We’ve sold two of them so far,” marvels David Scifres, Camping World’s vice president of Internet operations.

From its beginnings as a single store in 1966, Camping World traveled a long road. Today it’s part of Affinity Group Holding Inc., a $405 million conglomerate that also operates discount clubs and publishes magazines in the recreational arena. Camping World, now the largest retailer of RV accessories, supplies and services, represents perhaps half of Affinity’s annual sales with 30 stores in 20 states, catalogs and a resource-packed web site that’s one-stop shopping for everything an RVer could ever need.

Camping World offers merchandise less easily found elsewhere, such as RV-sized appliances and camper accessories and gear. The company launched an information-only web site in 1996 and added e-commerce in 1997. Its customer database is now 6.5 million, including some 2 million active customers. CampingWorld.com gets about 220,000 unique visitors a month and its e-mail list is half a million and growing.

While the web site also helps get customers into Camping World stores its main goal is transactions, as well as serving as a response vehicle for catalog and Internet promotions. “It’s a much cheaper way to take orders,” Scifres says. And more customers are migrating cross-channel—Scifres reports that on one recent day, for example, 43% of the orders came in online vs. by phone.

CampingWorld.com organizes its offering under functionally grouped categories that make search a breeze. The site’s also rich in information and services, including 5-day weather forecast by ZIP code, a news service dedicated to RV-related news, access to discounted campground fees and even RV insurance.

“This site does a lot of things right. The RV segment is a tight-knit group and the site plays right into that community. I like the club membership pricing and the fact that the community can review products,” says retail consultant Keven Wilder of McMillan/Doolittle. “It’s fast-loading and easy to use. They have really thought this through.”

FAOSchwarz
Sharing the fun

For a retailer known for fun, FAO Inc. offers it packaged in a bundle of ways on FAO.com, the site for innovative toy seller FAO Schwarz.

Take the Musini, a children’s musical toy made by Neurosmith. Looking like a sure kid-pleaser, the Musini is a round, electronic musical device that sits on the floor. Activated by vibrations, it emits musical sounds based on the signals it receives from tapping hands and feet. It comes with several music cartridges, so users can choose musical styles ranging from classical to pop.

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The Musini may be difficult for some parents and kids to imagine in actual operation, even after reading a detailed description of it. So FAO makes it easier by offering a pop-up video. Click it on and you see and hear boys and girls clapping, dancing and jumping around the $75 Musini as it belts out a tune.

Innovation in toy-selling has been a hallmark of FAO since its founding in 1862 in Baltimore by Frederick August Otto Schwarz, a recent immigrant from Germany. As it developed into a chain of stores with a flagship location on New York’s posh Fifth Avenue, FAO Schwarz developed a merchandising style that strived to provide interactive retailing environments, allowing shoppers a more hands-on feel than typically allowed by other merchants.

FAO Schwarz was acquired early this year by The Right Start Inc., a retailer of educational toys. To leverage the long-running FAO Schwarz brand, the merged company took on the name FAO Inc. In addition to its stores, it operates three linked retail sites: FAO.com, RightStart.com and ZanyBrainy.com.

Under its new parent, FAO Schwarz continues to present an image of an innovative toy seller that strives to make shopping, both offline and online, fun. Although its web site may never offer the hands-on experience of in-store shopping, it does offer unusually helpful displays and large, high-resolution photographs. “They provide a good presentation of the product assortment and typically include graphics that show children playing with the toys, providing a sense of scale,” says Justin Cassey, a retail analyst with Kurt Salmon Associates.

The site offers 56 brands and lets shoppers browse by several categories, including brand, age, exclusive FAO offerings, and boutiques that provide groups of playthings and learning tools.

And to make browsing easy, FAO.com provides a scrolling bar of images of alternate products, each of which can be clicked on for more details and purchasing options. “FAO.com is easy to navigate and quite useful,” Cassey says.

JCWhitney
Revving up web sales

When you’ve got a catalog as jam-packed as automotive accessories retailer J.C. Whitney Inc.’s, you can’t test a lot of new products. The risk of allowing the equivalent of an Edsel to occupy profitable catalog real estate is just too high. But not so with the web. “The web site has allowed us a lot more experimentation with products,” says Geoff Robertson, director of technology at Chicago-based J.C. Whitney. “It’s really helped us get a better understanding of the marketplace.”

Customers coming to JCWhitney.com today find nine specialty shops front and center on the home page, including such shops as sport compact, Jeep CJ and Wrangler, ATV and RV. “These appeal to lifestyles and target consumer segments that don’t get the catalog,” Robertson says. “You just can’t craft a catalog on some of those specialty shops.”

The company also hopes that specialty shops will attract younger customers. So far, it appears to be working: J.C. Whitney’s typical customer is a do-it-yourselfer in his 50s; the specialty shops are shifting that age younger, Robertson says.

J.C. Whitney put up a brochure site in 1998 as the start of its web experimentation. It began selling and accepting payment on the web in 1998 and today as much as 30% of its business is coming from the web.

JCWhitney.com has been a surprise hit with customers. Traffic has tripled in the past year from 800,000 a month to 2.4 million. “When I was determining a year ago how much technology we needed to support the site, I was expecting a 100% to 150% increase,” Robertson says. And even while the web brings in new customers, the catalog is driving much of the web sales. “When we increase catalog circulation, Internet traffic rises,” Robertson says. The catalog drives about 40% of the web sales, he says.

With 37,000 products on the web site vs. 60,000 in the catalog, the company is now putting the entire catalog online in the form of a PDF, with more of the specialized, hard-to-find products in the catalog PDF.

Interestingly, the average web order is 5%-10% below the average catalog order, leading the company to conclude that it is attracting new customers through its web presence. But once the customer becomes comfortable with J.C. Whitney and starts ordering from both channels, he becomes a much more valuable customer than either the catalog customer or the web customer, buying 1.5 times a year vs. once a year for the single channel customer, with an average order 10% higher. “The web will become a strategic channel for us as we move forward,” Robertson says. 50

MLB.com/Shop
Fan frenzy

As with most other retail sites, Noah Garden’s e-commerce operation gets a big spike around Christmas. But what about those other spikes in April, July and September?

It’s all about the baseball season and its flash points at MLB.com, Major League Baseball’s 2-year-old content and commerce site, owned by the teams themselves. MLB.com aggregates the web sites of the 30 teams, giving each a similar look and feel, and centralizing fans’ access to content and merchandise for any team under the portal MLB.com. Under that strategy, MLB.com/Shop leverages one of the country’s most visible brands into a successful retail operation. In its first year, it doubled sales of licensed merchandise over the previous year’s collective sales of teams who’d been operating sites on their own, says Garden, senior vice president at MLB Advanced Media.

The teams that had sites before joining forces in MLB.com were using them for different purposes, notes Garden, with some viewing the web primarily as a marketing vehicle and others emphasizing commerce. “Alone, the teams were not able to leverage the technology we offer all 30 teams. By centralizing, they get best-of-breed technology and offer the best service to their fans,” Garden says.

MLB Advanced Media taps into a worldwide market of displaced baseball fans hungry for news of the home team, logging in 2 million visitors daily. And while fans may first seek out MLB.com for stats and news, they come back to shop. E-commerce is a soft pitch. “We don’t hit you over the head with it,” Garden says. “We provide free content to get fans closer to the game—and oh by the way, we also have commerce.” MLB.com/Shop will rack up $25 million in sales of licensed merchandise this year.

“The MLB.com shop is a great example of what the Internet can do well; in this case, aggregating demand that is dispersed as we get more mobile and people move farther way from their home team,” says Mary Brett Whitfield, senior vice president of Retail Forward Inc.

Without stores or catalogs, MLB.com/Shop seeks to convert Internet traffic and close sales online. But with a high-profile name that brings most visitors in through the URL and easy access to TV exposure—cameras often catch the host team’s URL behind home plate—MLB.com spends little on online advertising. It uses e-mail marketing to extend web sales, sending segmented marketing messages about every six weeks.

This year, Garden says, MLB.com/
Shop expects to double merchandise sales again. “We’re getting word out that we’re the one-stop shopping site for all MLB team merchandise,” he says.

Oriental Trading
The Orient express

Before this summer, a shopper for Halloween items at Oriental Trading Co.’s OrientalTrading.com would have had no trouble finding Halloween items; navigation to that department from the home page was simple. But when she got to the Halloween page, she might be forgiven for concluding that the company didn’t have what she was looking for. Most landing pages at OrientalTrading.com displayed six to nine product shots and many customers thought that was all the company had and so would move on.

Too bad for them because behind those six to nine were hundreds of other products; so many, in fact, that it’s almost impossible for a shopper seeking quantities of inexpensive holiday or educational items not to find what she needs. “Those shots were intended to be representative of 100 or 200 items,” says Steve Fortson, director of e-commerce for Omaha, Neb.-based Oriental Trading Co. “But many customers saw those six to nine as being the only items.”

OrientalTrading.com undertook a site re-design this summer to solve that problem. The 20 landing pages now use more text as well as graphics and categories to indicate the richness of the selection and highlight 10 to 15 best sellers. The company has seen a steadily rising conversion rate since the re-design.

Oriental Trading Co., which has been in business for 70 years and on the web since the fall of 1999, sells 10,000 SKUs to a market primarily of teachers and parents of school-age children. Its products range from decorated pencils for any and every holiday—most with a number of decor choices—to party decorations and goodie bag items. And since it has been on the web, it has attracted a growing number of corporate HR buyers looking for icebreakers for meetings or memorable gifts to hand out at training sessions.

OrientalTrading.com does a great job of navigating customers through the immense selection of goods, says Chris Merritt, a principal with retail consultants Kurt Salmon Associates in Atlanta. “The site is organized around what the customer is doing, not what the product is,” Merritt says. “It’s Halloween, wedding or luau; it’s not tabletop display or decorations. It really helps you think about other things you might need.”

With the number of products it carries, Oriental Trading has benefited from the web site in being able to offer its entire range all year round. Oriental Trading also believes the web has attracted new customers-those not in the teacher/parents-of-young-children loop who hear about the company via word of mouth. “People find us more easily on the web than they do through a catalog,” Fortson says.

SmartBargains
The sale that never ends

Scoring a bargain can be even more fun if you beat the rest of the crowd to it. At any time, online liquidator SmartBargains.com offers 2,000 to 2,500 first-quality brand name products at extra-deep discounts, but consumers must move quickly to get them. “In the course of a week there is a seismic shift in our selection,” says Carl Rosendorf, CEO of the 2-year-old company. “We tell our customers if you snooze, you lose.”

SmartBargains sources from manufacturers, jobbers and other retailers—Gordon Brothers LLC, one of the country’s oldest retail liquidators, is a major investor. The online offering includes savings of 50% to 80% below department store prices, but what really creates energy around the site is shoppers’ sense of bargains about to slip from their grasp. SmartBargains has built an inventory management system that links warehouse product levels with the consumer web site interface in real time, flagging customers with blinking warnings of a product’s run-out risk or flashing a message that a product sold out hours—even minutes—earlier.

“There’s a fun about our site that not a lot of others have,” Rosendorf says. “People compare us to eBay in that regard. You’re saving lots of money and having a great time doing it.”

SmartBargains anticipates sales over $60 million this year, and profitability in its fourth quarter ending Jan. 31, capping its second year of operation. Beyond its offering of strong brand names at bargain prices, Jupiter Research Inc. analyst Julie Deeks pins the site’s effectiveness in part on provenance. “They have contacts, a valuable asset in a business like liquidation,” she says. “And rather than spending egregiously to build a consumer brand, they’ve quietly gained notice through marketing deals with AOL and MSN.”

Shoppers who lose out are quicker to move next time, thanks to e-mail “Bargain Alerts” that are key to SmartBargains’ strategy. Some 750,000 shoppers have opted in to receive the thrice-weekly e-mails announcing new merchandise. Since word got out that some in-demand merchandise sells out on click-throughs from the alerts and never even makes it onto the web site, SmartBargains has been adding to its list at the rate of about 100,000 per month.

Though it plans to segment that list to a greater degree in the future, the kind of personalization that other retailers pursue is less relevant here. “A bargain hunter is looking for bargains more than for a particular product. It’s one reason most of our customers want to know everything we have to offer, and understanding that is key to understanding our business philosophy,” Rosendorf says. “It’s all about the thrill of the hunt.”