Backcountry.com has been recognized by BizRate.com as a “Circle of Excellence” Platinum Award winner for customer satisfaction. The Circle of Excellence Platinum Award recognizes the very best merchants in customer satisfaction, as judged by previous buyers from those merchants.

Founded in 1996, BizRate.com is one of the largest, fastest and most accurate shopping search engines on the Web. With an index of over 25 million product offers from more than 48,000 stores, the site is widely respected as the most complete and authoritative source of online shopping information.

“This is one of our biggest accomplishments. Since the beginning in 1996, we've been focused on creating the smoothest and best online gear shopping experience, period,” said Jim Holland, Backcountry.com’s chief operating officer. “We’re focused on actually surprising our customers by how knowledgeable we are about the gear we sell, and by how quickly we spring into action to address their questions and concerns, and to send their order rocketing to their doorstep. While we will always seek to be better, this recognition tells us that we're on the right track, and it's something we're all proud of. ”

Online stores were awarded Circle of Excellence Platinum awards based on above average performance on seven key satisfaction metrics including: Overall Satisfaction, Product Selection, Ease of Finding Product, Repurchase Intent, Product Met Expectations, On-time Delivery, and Customer Support.

To qualify for the award, retailers had to be a BizRate Customer Certified Merchant and represent the top five percent of completed surveys, in terms of volume, from September 1, 2003 to August 31, 2004. Online buyers complete the surveys at the point of sale and after delivery of goods in order to accurately measure the in-store shopping experience and to monitor the store’s post-transaction performance.

“Online spending will keep growing as long as online retailers stay committed to providing the best customer service,” said Chuck Davis, president and CEO of BizRate.com. “We are particularly proud of Platinum Award winning merchants because, day-in and day-out, these merchants make it a priority to make every purchaser feel special. In return, they will reap the rewards this Holiday season and beyond.”