Your next high-end tent, headlamp, or puffy coat could come from Walmart. On Monday, the retail conglomerate added a to its website, selling everything from apparel and camping gear to climbing harnesses and crampons. No, Walmart鈥攌nown for聽for its cheap product offerings鈥攊sn鈥檛 making house-brand gear in an effort to undercut the established outdoor companies, as they did with organic food. It鈥檚 selling full-priced equipment from the likes of industry mainstays Black Diamond, Deuter, Therm-a-Rest, Pacsafe, and Eddie Bauer.
Premium Outdoor Store is a Walmart and Moosejaw, the gear e-retailer that Walmart acquired for $51 million in 2017. Moosejaw curates the gear that Walmart sells on its new platform鈥攕ome of it already available on Moosejaw.com, some of it from other brands that Moosejaw does not sell. The聽goal is to offer 鈥渁 completely new, outdoor specialty assortment that hasn鈥檛 been available to Walmart customers in the past,鈥 Eoin Comerford, Moosejaw CEO and general manager of聽e-commerce for Walmart鈥檚 outdoor division, wrote in a blog post earlier today. Walmart has sold camping gear for years but is known for cheap, entry-level products.
The people in charge of Premium Outdoor Shop are aware of that reputation and taking strides to make sure the new platform sends a different message. 鈥淲e鈥檙e paying close attention to maintaining the look and feel of each brand,鈥 says Jaeme Laczkowski, director of corporate communications聽at Walmart. To do that, Walmart is relying heavily on聽Moosejaw's expertise and strong relationships with companies to make聽sure products are being accurately described and represented online.
Over time, Comerford hopes to increase Walmart鈥檚 outdoor offerings by forming partnerships with brick-and-mortar specialty retail shops, which will be able to sell inventory through Walmart鈥檚 site, similar to the聽model Amazon employs for its retail platform.聽For competing e-retailers like REI and Backcountry.com,聽Walmart鈥檚 newfound interest in high-end gear could have consequences, as the big-box e-retailer siphons聽sales away. For brick-and-mortar shops that聽offset flagging foot traffic by selling inventory through Walmart, the platform聽could be a blessing鈥攂ut it could be a blow to those who choose not to sign up, as it brings more gear sales online and away from the physical retail environment.聽
Does this mean聽Moosejaw聽itself could be on its way out? Not yet. Comerford聽claims the new platform is a win-win, using Moosejaw鈥檚 expertise to improve the Walmart聽shopping experience while using Walmart鈥檚 huge audience聽to create brand recognition for Moosejaw and send more customers its way.聽鈥淲e鈥檙e still the same Moosejaw we were before,鈥 Comerford says. 鈥淛ust turbo-charged with investments and scale.鈥澛