We have an e-commerce site so that you can buy stuff!
We’ve already done a “soft-launch” on Facebook, and you may have noticed the odd link in the last webpage post or two. Over the weekend we put some links on the front page (“accessories” is now “shop”). So it’s high-time we announced it for real.
Why e-commerce? Well, since you ask… Our core business remains selling the best skis available and servicing them with the best stone grinding available. But we recognize that race day success depends on waxes and tools, and the support and information to use them well. Our business model is built on relationships with our customers that extend to sharing information and exchanging feedback. Waxes and tools are a necessary link in the chain. We will never be the biggest shop out there, but we know the products that we sell, and we recommend products based on our knowledge and experience. We’re putting as much of this knowledge and experience into an e-commerce platform as we can, because the unfortunate fact is that it’s often hard to catch us on the phone, and thus far that’s been about the only way to actually buy something from us.
Caldwell Sport as Importer
We didn’t really intend to get into the import business, but several years ago Seppo Lappalainen showed up at our house with some wax and informed us that we would be the US importer of Vauhti. Vauhti is one of the big three Finnish wax brands, along with Start and Rex, and it’s one of the oldest operating wax companies in the world. Over the past two winters we’ve done a great job of testing Vauhti, and getting a few skiers and coaches to start working with it, but we needed an outlet for actually selling the wax as well. And in order to offer a well rounded selection that reflects what we use, we also strengthened our ties with Rode, Star, and Start and included them in the e-commerce set-up.
We also took a hard look at tools, and thanks to some mutual friends we were able to set-up an import deal with Red Creek from Sweden. For structure tools and brushes Red Creek has a phenomenal line-up, and we’re lucky to have access to their stuff. But again, we needed a way to sell it! The obvious answer? E-commerce.
Caldwell Sport as Fashion Brand
When you’re in business you hear a lot about “branding”, and since we didn’t really have a logo before, prior to last season we decided to work with a real pro on a logo and branding project. Andy Powell guided us on an eye-opening process, and produced an awesome “brand identity” for us. Once Amy arranged to get it onto some t-shirts and hats we were in the fashion business. The real, whole, honest truth about the e-commerce site is that Amy wanted a way to sell hats and t-shirts. Really. Through the early stages of our e-commerce “soft launch” the t-shirts have been the biggest seller. I’m seriously thinking about getting Sophie to model some wax for us. Come to think of it – she’s stopping by tomorrow. I’ll see what we can do about that.
Caldwell Sport as E-Commerce Pioneer
Hardly. E-commerce has gotten pretty easy, and there are tons of options out there to help smooth the way. We’ve just plugged into an existing template with a minimum of hassle and set-up. What we’ve done a little differently is invest some time in sorting and categorizing products to help make some sense of the browsing process. Our products aren’t sorted alphabetically – they’re sorted by brand, and from coldest conditions to warmest conditions. You’ll always see Vauhti first, and you’ll always see the high-end stuff first (of course). We’ve also organized our categories so that you can browse by product (glide wax -> fluorocarbons -> liquids), or by target conditions. We use the same color-coded conditions categories that we use for our grinds and skis. There are a lot of different ways to organize products and most of them are inherently unsatisfactory in one way or another. But we’ve put some effort into all of this sorting and categorization, so we hope you’ll have a look around.
Caldwell Sport as a Small Business
The thing that really hasn’t changed is that we remain a very small business with low overhead. Rather than carry huge inventory (and try to eat wax instead of food all summer because all our earnings are tied up in inventory), we pay more for shipping and place multiple shipments. We’ve got arrangements with other brands to drop-ship items that we don’t have in stock, and after two years we’re catching on to what’s going to sell. Having said that, we’ve already run out of hfC15 liquid from our first order (we’ll have more here very soon), and we haven’t received our first Red Creek order yet (we just expanded it, and it should be shipped by the time you read this). Because of the inherent inventory concerns we DON’T offer expedited shipping as an online option. If you need something tomorrow, you’ll still have to call us because we want to be sure we can deliver it before we take your money!