Backcountry.com's new Vendor Social Hubs take Merchandising to the E

Posted: 07/30/2010 In Category: Outdoor Retail

Industry News Release Written By: Mike Geraci

With manufacturers looking for new ways to leverage and distribute their brand content, Backcountry.com, in partnership with The North Face, this week launched their first Vendor Social Hub, a next generation merchandising program that gives manufacturers one hyper SEO-friendly content hub and community publishing platform that can be directly linked to product sales. The first-of-its-kind concept delivers a focused, brand-appropriate presence that takes the brick and mortar concept of merchandising and turbo charges it with the vendors’ videos, pictures, athlete content, social media streams, and Backcountry.com’s community-powered gear reviews.

The Vendor Social Hub gives all of that content a home with a purpose: Connecting brand marketing and the resultant brand insistency to sales. Each Vendor Social Hub includes a section that calls-out the vendor’s feature products that links to the product page on Backcountry.com.

“Many more or our vendor partners are investing significant resources in content and social media programs,” said Dustin Robertson, Chief Marketing Office at Backcountry.com. “They’re interested in innovative solutions that make better use of these investments to power sales. We developed the Vendor Social Hub to provide that solution while educating and entertaining our customers. We feel that we’re also helping to build the brand’s reputation through increased content distribution with all the eyeballs and traffic we already drive to Backcountry.com.”

With half of Internet users researching online before making any type of purchase—on the Web, in a store, or through any other method—Backcountry.com is aggregating all of the search friendliness of social platform and social media into one super powerful PoP that puts the content in the proper context at the point where a customer is deciding whether to make a purchase or not.

"Backcountry.com has successfully integrated the traditional online sales experience and brand storytelling. Now users will not only see product collections and reviews but also The North Face athlete videos, tech info and backcountry community feedback.” said Aaron Carpenter, vice president of marketing for The North Face. “We are thrilled to see this investment and innovation by Backcountry.com.”

About Backcountry.com:
Backcountry.com is an online retailer of high-end outdoor gear. The e-tailer carries more than 400 brands in various categories, including backpacking, camping, cycling, hiking, climbing, trail running, paddling, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and adventure travel. Backcountry also operates Bonktown.com, Chainlove.com, SteepandCheap.com, Dogfunk.com, Tramdock.com, WhiskeyMilitia.com, Departmentofgoods.com, Realcyclist.com, Hucknroll.com, and Brociety.com. Backcountry.com is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Interactive Group (Nasdaq: LINTA).

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