Rock/Creek, one of the first outdoor specialty retailers to sell online, plans to replace its current e-commerce platform with a system from ATG Commerce.


With aggressive online growth targets for the next five years, Rock/Creek will re-launch on ATG to leverage the advanced personalization and merchandising features. The goal is to establish more personal connections with customers by helping them find the right outdoor gear and products to fit their needs, and presenting product information and offers that match their interests.

 

Since its founding more than two decades ago, Rock/Creek has grown into one of the leading specialty retailers in outdoor gear and apparel. In 2009, the company’s online sales surpassed sales from its largest brick-and-mortar location, and while both channels continue to grow, this highlighted a significant opportunity for the advancement of the company’s Web presence. With this in mind, Rock/Creek executives evaluated several e-commerce platform providers, and ultimately selected ATG to provide a commerce platform that will support the company through multiple stages of growth.

“When we originally launched our online store over a decade ago, we built our own e-commerce platform,” said Mark McKnight, e-commerce director, Rock/Creek. “Since then, we have aggressively grown our business online, moving from the smallest storefront in the company just a few years ago to the largest today. Now that we’ve reached key milestones and defined ambitious online revenue goals for the next five to 10 years, the limitations of our current platform have become apparent. ATG Commerce will allow us to scale for that growth, and offer specialized content and high-value product recommendations to specific customer segments.”


The move to ATG Commerce will enable Rock/Creek to handle greater volume both in its actual traffic and sales and its product catalog. The company plans to add a variety of new products to its site, doubling the overall current catalog SKU count. Additionally, after re-launching with ATG, the Rock/Creek web and merchandising team will have sophisticated capabilities to capture, mine and efficiently utilize customer data collected throughout the browsing and buying process. Using business tools inherent in ATG Commerce, Rock/Creek will have full control over the customer experience, so the company can swiftly and easily change marketing tactics to counteract competitors’ promotions and launch micro-sites for specialized sports or collections.


“Rock/Creek has earned a reputation among its customer base for offering high quality gear and service in the marketplace,” said Nina McIntyre, ATG’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “This re-launch will allow the company to create a more meaningful shopping experience across channels to market more effectively to its customers. Moving to ATG Commerce will allow the Rock/Creek team to drive sales in order to meet or exceed the company’s aggressive revenue goals, and scale rapidly.”