ftr 34 December 2008

Todd Meckley decided to start a small niche bass tackle online store called Hawghead Baits in 2000 when he had trouble finding certain lures in the big box stores.

“I got the idea from some niche products such as Right Bite Baits, Case Plastics and a small spinnerbait

company in Maryland that is now out of business,” says Meckley.

He started the online store in 2000, but two years later decided to add a

physical location. While fishing in a B.A.S.S. Federation Nation bass club, he met

Rick Anderson, who wanted to open a brick-and-mortar tackle store some-where in Pennsylvania. So the two formed a partnership in 2004 and found the right location, an old bait-

and-tackle store across from Gifford Pinchot State Park.“If it weren’t for the right situation like that, we

probably would have never done it,” admits Meckley.Jeff Cady and Gary Drain were looking for an oppor-

tunity to get into the fishing industry when they started their Web site, www.landbigfish.com, in 2001.

“We weren’t really tackle-oriented when we first started,” recalls Cady. “We were more of an informa-tional site.” The site listed fishing articles and focused on outdoor businesses such as charter boat services, marinas, campgrounds and lodges. It eventually evolved into an online tackle store, but last year Cady

and Drain decided they needed to

These experts give you an inside look at how going from a Web site to a brick-and-mortar location can work for you.

By John neporadny Jr.

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TThe Internet has made it easy for just about anyone to start his own online fishing tackle store. And many savvy entrepreneurs have done quite well for themselves by doing so.

However, with the numbers of online retailers growing yearly, many proprietors are finding the blending of a Web store along with a brick-and-mortar location as the right fit.

Whereas most fishing tackle stores started with a brick-and-mortar building and later added an online store, a few tackle retailers throughout the country have taken the opposite approach. Hawghead Baits in Penn-sylvania, Land Big Fish in Ohio and Basswishes in Missouri all started out as online stores but are now also selling products at physical locations.

To

(Continued)

expand into a physical location; so they opened a shop in a strip mall in Akron, Ohio.

“Lake Erie is about a half-hour drive from here,” says Cady of the store’s ideal location. “There are some great reservoirs around here, and Akron is on the south end of the Portage Lakes (a chain of five lakes filled with largemouth bass, walleye, crappie and other gamefish).”

He notes the store is only three miles from a boat ramp where numerous bass tournaments are held.

While serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Army, Tom Murphy started his Basswishes Web site to sell high-end bass fishing tackle that brick-and-mortar stores in his area didn’t carry.

Now retired, he has been selling his goods at his house as well as online and plans on eventually open-ing a brick-and-mortar shop.

“That is just growing by leaps and bounds,” says Murphy of the tackle shop in his home. “It’s just a broader footprint for Basswishes.”

With today’s saturated e-commerce market, all three online tackle retailers believe expanding their business to a physical location is a necessity.

“What helps keep a business alive in this day and age — especially in the tackle industry — is relying on all of the resources you can get to find all of the customers you can,” says Meckley. “With an online store you can grab customers from all around the world.”

Hawghead Baits’ physical store allows Meckley to delve into the live bait market and sell tackle for other species.

“We have become known as a niche bass, trout, crappie store,” he says. “With the two combined stores we are able to survive. Without either one or the other,

we probably wouldn’t be able to.”

Cady hasn’t noticed any increase in sales for his In-ternet store since he has opened a physical store, but he believes the brick-and-mortar shop gives his busi-ness more name recognition with both customers and fishing tackle manufacturers.

“It just gives your Web site more validity,” he suggests. “It also gives us a nice foothold on the local business here.”

Customers of www.landbigfish.com have also been drawn to the physical store in Akron.

“We have people come in all the time and tell us how they have bought many times from us online and that they are glad we are here and that they can come into the store,” says Cady.

Some walk-in customers who live long distances away will shop online with Hawghead Baits and Land Big Fish after visiting the brick-and- mortar facilities.

Meckley has noticed that anglers browse around the shop before or after fishing Lake Pinchot and later buy tackle from his on-line store.

But there is no set formula for de-termining when to expand your business beyond an online store by moving into a physical location.

“I’m not sure if there is a gauge or rule of thumb that you can go by,” acknowledges Cady. “With any business and any venture, ev-erything is just a leap of faith; and we were at the point where we thought the leap of faith was a non-miss.”

5Steps 1. Advertise your Web site in outdoors print

magazines and other outdoors Web sites.2. Link your site to other fishing Web sites and tackle

manufacturers’ Web sites.3. Advertise with Google and other search engines.4. combine your online store with other fishing

services, such as a guide service.5. Participate in drop-shipping programs with

manufacturers.

For Using The Web To Drive Sales

ftr 36 December 2008

He does recommend an online store being at least moderately successful before moving into a building.

If online entrepreneurs get cold feet about investing in a physical location, they can try Tom Murphy’s ap-proach of selling out of their homes for a while.

He says sales have increased by about 35 to 40 per-cent since he started selling out of his dwelling.

A major benefit, he says, is that he can work with customers one-on-one and demonstrate his products.

With online stores flooding the e-commerce mar-ket, expanding your Internet tackle business into a brick-and-mortar shop could be the best bet for boosting sales.

circle no. 009 on reader service card

“What helps keep a business alive in this day

and age — especially in the tackle industry — is

relying on all of the resources you can get to

find all of the customers you can. With an

online store you can grab customers from

all around the world.”— Todd Meckley,

Owner, Hawghead Baits

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Phot

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Julie

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37 ftr December 2008

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