Backcountry.com
Encyclopedia
Backcountry.com is an online outdoor retailer that specializes in high-end outdoor recreation
gear for skiing
, snowboarding
, rock climbing
, kayaking
, hiking
, trekking
, trail running
, snowshoeing, and cycling
.
and John Bresee. The two started an online business (soon to be known as Backcountry.com) in a garage in Heber City, Utah under the domain names bcstore.com and backcountrystore.com. Backcountry.com's first sale, an avalanche beacon, happened five weeks later.
Over the past 14 years, Backcountry.com has expanded, adding a slew of focused, niche online stores (four full retail, one closeout, and 5 one-deal-at-a-time or ODAT stores) in the outdoor, action sports and bike industries.
Backcountry.com and its sister sites now sell nearly 1,000 brands and see an average of 13 million unique visitors each month.
Backcountry.com was named the 2009 Backpacker Magazine/SNEWS Online Retailer of the Year. It has made the ranks of Internet Retailer Magazine's Best of the Web Top 50 Retail Sites in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009. In 2009, it earned the #65 spot in Sporting Goods Business Top 100 Retailers Report. And in 2003 and 2006, Backcountry.com secured positions in Inc Magazine's Inc 500.
Backcounty.com coined the term ODAT, which stands for "one deal at a time." Backcountry.com currently operates four niche ODAT sites: (In January 2011 - The fifth ODAT site closed down - tramdock.com - all skiing merchandise from Tramdock.com, will now be available on Steepandcheap.com
. Backcountry.com-sponsored athletes are responsible for actively driving traffic to Backcountry.com through YouTube
, Facebook
, Twitter
, Myspace
, and blogs.
In an interview on Climbing.com, Backcountry.com's pro team manager, Jon Atencio, said: "Athletes will have new motivation to participate in community, write product reviews, and make their presence known however they can — and we plan to do everything we can to leverage their community action."
The program is actually an affiliate marketing
program in which Backcountry.com provides athletes with tools to track and measure their online impact and athletes get a percentage return on each sale that is referred through their community presence.
of tornadoes which killed 344 people across 13 states, backcountry.com sent a marketing email to its mailing list subscribers advertising a sale on outerwear
and rainwear with the title "Mother Nature Hates You. Deal With It." The next day, the CEO of backcountry.com, Jill Layfield, issued an apology email stating that the email was written two weeks prior to the tornado event.
Outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity is leisure pursuits engaged in outside, especially in natural or semi-natural settings out of town...
gear for skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
, rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
, kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
, hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, trekking
Backpacking (wilderness)
Backpacking combines the activities of hiking and camping for an overnight stay in backcountry wilderness...
, trail running
Trail running
Trail running is a variant on running that differs markedly from road running and track running. Trail running generally takes place on hiking trails, most commonly single track trails, although fire roads are not uncommon. A distinguishing characteristic of the trails is that they are often...
, snowshoeing, and cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
.
History
Backcountry.com was founded in 1996 with a $2,000 out-of-pocket investment by lifetime friends Jim HollandJim Holland
Jim Holland is a US ski jumper who competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France and the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Jim's brothers Mike Holland and Joe Holland also competed in the Olympic Winter Games in ski jumping and nordic combined respectively. A native of...
and John Bresee. The two started an online business (soon to be known as Backcountry.com) in a garage in Heber City, Utah under the domain names bcstore.com and backcountrystore.com. Backcountry.com's first sale, an avalanche beacon, happened five weeks later.
Over the past 14 years, Backcountry.com has expanded, adding a slew of focused, niche online stores (four full retail, one closeout, and 5 one-deal-at-a-time or ODAT stores) in the outdoor, action sports and bike industries.
Backcountry.com and its sister sites now sell nearly 1,000 brands and see an average of 13 million unique visitors each month.
Backcountry.com was named the 2009 Backpacker Magazine/SNEWS Online Retailer of the Year. It has made the ranks of Internet Retailer Magazine's Best of the Web Top 50 Retail Sites in 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009. In 2009, it earned the #65 spot in Sporting Goods Business Top 100 Retailers Report. And in 2003 and 2006, Backcountry.com secured positions in Inc Magazine's Inc 500.
Other Sites
Backcountry.com currently operates Dogfunk.com (snowboard gear), RealCyclist.com (road cycling), HuckNroll.com (mountain biking), DepartmentOfGoods.com (multi sport closeout), and several ODAT (one deal at a time) sites: SteepandCheap.com, WhiskeyMilitia.com, Chainlove.com, Bonktown.com, and as of January 2011 the now defunct site Tramdock.com.Niche Marketing and ODAT Sites
Backcountry.com adheres to niche marketing. Internet Retailer stated, in "the Niche Professionals," that Backcountry.com has mastered the niche strategy.Backcounty.com coined the term ODAT, which stands for "one deal at a time." Backcountry.com currently operates four niche ODAT sites: (In January 2011 - The fifth ODAT site closed down - tramdock.com - all skiing merchandise from Tramdock.com, will now be available on Steepandcheap.com
- Steepandcheap.com (outdoor gear and ski gear)
- WhiskeyMilitia.com, (surf and skate and snowboard gear)
- Chainlove.com, (mountain bike gear)
- Bonktown.com, (road bike gear)
Backcountry athlete sponsorship
Backcountry.com launched a non-traditional athlete sponsorship program in 2008, which requires that the athletes promote themselves and the brand they represent through social mediaSocial media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
. Backcountry.com-sponsored athletes are responsible for actively driving traffic to Backcountry.com through YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
, Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, and blogs.
In an interview on Climbing.com, Backcountry.com's pro team manager, Jon Atencio, said: "Athletes will have new motivation to participate in community, write product reviews, and make their presence known however they can — and we plan to do everything we can to leverage their community action."
The program is actually an affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts...
program in which Backcountry.com provides athletes with tools to track and measure their online impact and athletes get a percentage return on each sale that is referred through their community presence.
Sickbird Award
Backcountry.com recognizes standout athletes in the area of big mountain free-skiing by sponsoring Mountain Sports International's Freeskiing World Tour sick-bird award. "The coveted Backcountry.com sickbird buckle is an award, which is given out at the end of each FWT event, to the athlete with the most spirited run." These runs usually include super-human talent and agility.Controversy
On April 27, 2011, during the 2011 Super OutbreakSuper Outbreak
The Super Outbreak is the second largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the tornado outbreak of April 25–28, 2011...
of tornadoes which killed 344 people across 13 states, backcountry.com sent a marketing email to its mailing list subscribers advertising a sale on outerwear
Outerwear
-List of outerwear:* Jacket* Coat* Mittens* Cloaks* Hats* Poncho* Rain pants* Trousers* Scarves*Gloves...
and rainwear with the title "Mother Nature Hates You. Deal With It." The next day, the CEO of backcountry.com, Jill Layfield, issued an apology email stating that the email was written two weeks prior to the tornado event.