case study

Weatherby: Dipping Your Toes Into E-Commerce

E-commerce, or transacting business over the Internet, offers outdoor recreation marketers a wealth of opportunities and a potential minefield full of challenges. For those companies who are primarily direct marketers, e-commerce is a natural progression in their normal way of doing business. However, for the majority of outdoor recreation manufacturers who typically sell through independent dealers or mass merchants, e-commerce represents a major change in the way business is conducted.

In the past two to three years, we’ve seen a select few outdoor recreation manufacturers choose to plunge headlong into e-commerce. However, the majority of outdoor recreation manufacturers have opted for the more cautious approach of taking some small e-commerce steps to get their feet wet. Weatherby, Inc., the legendary manufacturer of firearms based in Atascadero, California, is a company that chose the gradual approach to e-commerce.

Weatherby sells its lineup of rifles, shotguns, centerfire pistols, ammunition, security products and accessories through an international network of distributors and dealers. Weatherby has spent years developing its distribution network and prides itself on having excellent relationships with both distributors and dealers. When evaluating e-commerce opportunities, serious consideration was given to the impact on and reaction of its distribution network.

Foundation: Loyal Customers And A Popular Web Site

Weatherby enjoys two key advantages that helped give it a solid foundation for a successful venture into e-commerce. First, the company has a very loyal and enthusiastic group of customers who are interested in communicating with Weatherby and learning more about the company and its products. Second, Weatherby has a Web site (www.weatherby.com) created and launched by Swanson Russell in 1998 that attracts exceptionally large volumes of customer and prospect traffic.

Many visitors to the Weatherby Web site have gone out of their way to say that the site is excellent and reflects well upon the company. Although the initial site did not have e-commerce features, it offered extensive product and company information. The site gave Weatherby an opportunity to hear the opinions of the hundreds of visitors who send messages to the company each week. A significant number of these visitors expressed an interest in buying Weatherby products online.

The Weatherby Approach To E-Commerce

Weatherby knew, based on customer comments, that many of its accessory products and ammunition were not readily available in the marketplace. Most dealers focused on Weatherby rifles and shotguns while stocking only a limited supply of accessories and ammunition. This is a situation faced by many outdoor recreation manufacturers. The Weatherby objective was to better serve its customers and obtain some experience in e-commerce.

Early in 1999, the initial work began to develop a storefront section (The Weatherby Online Store) for the Weatherby Web site. A key decision was whether to use an existing off-the-shelf e-commerce shopping cart program or have a custom program developed. An off-the-shelf program would cost less, be fully tested in the marketplace and could be implemented in a much shorter period of time.

A custom program would enable Weatherby to have a program designed specifically for the company ’s unique needs and allow more design flexibility. Although Weatherby had several needs and requirements that were not standard for most shopping cart programs, the decision was made to use an off-the-shelf program so the store could be implemented quickly and at a moderate cost. Our challenge was to stretch the capabilities of the shopping cart program to meet Weatherby’s special needs and develop a design that could be effectively integrated within the regular Web site. This was accomplished, in part, by making some key adjustments to the core source code of the shopping cart software.

One of the myths of e-commerce is that all that is necessary is to plug a few product photos, descriptions and prices into a shopping cart program. While the product information, site design and shopping cart program are all important, the bigger challenge for many traditional outdoor recreation marketers is in establishing the back end order processing and handling systems, policies and procedures. Weatherby and Swanson Russell worked together to make decisions regarding shipping and payment options, return policies and legal matters that apply to companies operating in a direct marketing environment. Meanwhile, Weatherby prepared its systems and personnel to handle the anticipated volume of online orders.

The Weatherby Online Store Goes Live

The development of the Weatherby Online Store was finished by the end of November 1999. All pages were created and stocked with the company’s accessory and ammunition products. All pricing, shipping, tax issues, policies and procedures had been resolved. The secure server certificate providing customers a sense of security was in place. Prior to launch, intensive site testing, including submission of many test orders, was performed.

The Weatherby Online Store launched in early December 1999. Although Weatherby was anxious to make the store active as soon as possible, the overriding concern was to make certain that both the online store and the order fulfillment functioned correctly. This was at a time (pre-Christmas) when there were many horror stories regarding consumer online shopping experiences on the Internet. For Weatherby, it was better to miss a week or two of sales than to endanger the company’s precious relationship and goodwill with customers.

To date, the store has not been heavily promoted through media advertising and other avenues. Weatherby’s primary objective remains to direct consumers to its dealers. As of mid-2000, online ordering serves as a convenience for customers and a small step for Weatherby into the world of e-commerce. The Weatherby Online Store has yielded a steady stream of orders during the company’s slower season. The volume is expected to increase substantially as hunting season nears. Just as importantly, Weatherby has received many positive comments regarding the store and no negative ones from consumers, distributors or dealers.