Camping World acquires Gander Mountain

[TravelTiger]

Read an article about Camping World acquiring Gander Mountain.

One bit stood out:

Overall, Lemonis said Camping World doesn’t view itself as an RV retailer but “as a data mining company” and one that “focuses on how to control the consumer inside the RV and outdoor leisure space.”

Here's the entire article:

https://sgbonline.com/camping-world-will-seek-to-undercut-competition-with-new-gander-stores/


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[SHerrick]

Sounds like crap, but in actuality, he was being brutally honest. The business of business is business. What he was just saying is that his focus is more on the process than the product, and as the guy in the front office of a multi focused company, he better be looking at the business and let the experts that work for him handle all the 'RV Retailers' and 'boat sellers'.


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[MP_CS]

They are closing every gander mountain store around my neck of the woods. So i guess there business is closing businesses.

 

[Dennyha]

The e-mail I received said that the inventory of Gander Mountain was not part of the sale, so GM is liquidating their inventory before the "business" transfers to CW. I'm not convinced the GMs are closing, but that "their business" is going out of business.

 

[Mburtsvt]

Regardless if you like it or not, Camping World will be the 800 pound gorilla in the room. They have reached critical mass at a faster rate than any RV reseller. The additional pressure on the “mom and pops” RV reseller will be intense. [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Lemonis is right. Any focus on it’s current base will expand the outdoor lifestyle product foot print. I think we will all get more email in the future based on our RV lifestyle. [/FONT]

 

[truckmen]

Some more info:
https://twitter.com/marcuslemonis?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

[JohnD]

The Gander Mountain store by us liquidated back during the 2016 Christmas season.

The CW announcement of the takeover came out two or three months ago as I recall.

 

[JohnDar]

I stopped by the local Gander Mountain when they first announced it. Big savings on everything they marked up and no deals on guns or ammo. The ammo I was looking for was cheaper at WalMart.


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[LBR]

I had never heard of the company before this...yes, we don't travel East very far from Oregon...lol.

Very interesting that the CW/GS CEO reported that after the sucessful acquisition in April and an ongoing mass liquidation on wares, that they will TRY to keep up to 70 stores open. This is great news for those of you in the Eastern half of our great nation.

 

[terribruce]

Wow! Very interesting information, we don't have Gander Mountains around here. I've only seen or been in the Camping World.
Thank you for sharing.

Terri

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[TravelTiger]

I guess what irks me is that he clearly says he's not an RV retailer.

They just want the main focus to be on selling GS (insurance, roadside assistance, etc.)


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[Kbvols]

Data mining is nothing new with retail companies. I guess time will tell with his strategy. I totally get pursuit of selling memberships, insurance and such. What makes me skeptical is the apparent disregard for the core retail businesses which he is wanting to leverage to gain additional data.

The challenge as I believe will be growing the core retail business unless greater emphasis is placed on their online presence,RV Sales and building a great service dept/reputation. Managing merchandise mix, inventory levels, and fixed cost are extremely difficult in a business that is susceptible economic factors and is somewhat trendy. Online competitors such as Amazon, Jett and Walmart in my experience are more competitive from a price perspective than Camping World on accessory items with generally positive shopping experiences. Same thoughts would apply for Gander as it relates to firearms/ ammo and services those things not always obtainable on line.

In my opinion Sales (RV's) and Service is what has the catalyst to fuel his strategy over time. Building and sustaining customer traffic flow is key to retail regardless of bricks and mortar or online. Focusing on Service and having a great reputation for RV sales will help drive repeat shopping trips to their stores and potentially online if they can become more competitive . Selling RV's obviously increases the likelihood for accessory item during the point of sale where immediacy trumps (no pun intended) price. RV sales will also contribute to the data base. Great service departments will also build customer bases as well as repeat trips to their stores generating more data.

Sears comes to mind their focus on financial and insurance business have contributed to their irrelevance in the retail world.

Final thought if GS would stop sending so much propaganda thru the mail they may lower expenses more than they think. Good grief rarely a week goes by we don't get something in the mail from them.




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[danemayer]

Some key metrics:

• Cost of customer acquisition
• Profit margins
• Inventory turns per year
• Return on capital investment
• Repeat sales

Marcus is telling investors that the retail sales business performance of CW and Gander Mountain is not good on key business metrics. So if he can leverage the weak business through data mining, he can sell more services with:

• Minimal additional cost of acquisition
• Higher profit margins
• Near infinite inventory turns since there is no inventory
• Very high return on capital investment since there is almost no capital required.
• Sales repeat annually through subscription process.

CW and Gander Mountain can be marginally successful while contributing to the better business that he really wants.

 

[TravelTiger]

Here's another reason not to do business with Lemonis...


A Logo Design Contest With Dubious Terms Shows That Spec Work Is A No-No
By Dorothy Tan, 09 Jun 2017

In the design industry, spec work—or “speculative work”—is largely frowned upon and considered by many insiders to be a lose-lose situation for both businesses and designers. Founder of Just Creative Jacob Cass defines spec work as “work done without compensation in the hope of being compensated, for the client’s speculation”.

Doug Bartow, art director and contributor to design and pop culture website Quipsologies, recently highlighted the logo design contest organized by Gander Mountain—a large retail network of outdoor specialty stores in the US—for its new brand, Gander Outdoors. According to Bartow, it may be the “most egregious spec contest ever”.

In its call for entries, Gander Outdoors invites designers to send in their best logos for consideration—it states: “The winner will receive $100,000. Plus, 99 other entrants will each receive a $1,000 gift card.”

However, as Bartow noted, the contest’s fine print includes a clause that may potentially free the brand of any obligation to give out any prizes at all—it read: “Sponsor reserves the right not to award all or any prizes in the event that an insufficient number of eligible entries meeting the minimum judging criteria are received, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion."




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[Mattman]

Wow. I remember shopping at gander mountain for fishing stuff back before there was a supper store called cabelas. After that opened it was closer than GM and better selection. Now Bass pro owns cabelas. Now Camping world is taking over GM. I got sucked in CW when I first started camping. I thought I was getting all these great deals. I remember buying a few things, then stopped at the local dealer only to see them for less. Now after not having a good Sam membership for 2 years I still get the solicitations in the mail. The member ship was probably the worst money I spent towards RVing. I hate junk mail.

I hope the guy/gal who works the floor at the GM stores aren't the ones who get the raw end of the stick here. This guys seems to be all about profit. I get it. By dosent mean I like it.
I thought the government busted up all the monopolies back in the 30s? Seems like we are headed that way again.

 

[JohnD]

I buy RV stuff at Camping World for two reasons:

They have the RV stuff I need and a lot of RV dealerships have very minimal camping/RV supply stores, and what they do sell is often considerably higher priced.

And we have two Camping World stores locally.

I guess that is three reasons.

 

[Tree14]

Read an article about Camping World acquiring Gander Mountain.

One bit stood out:

Overall, Lemonis said Camping World doesn’t view itself as an RV retailer but “as a data mining company” and one that “focuses on how to control the consumer inside the RV and outdoor leisure space.”

Here's the entire article:

https://sgbonline.com/camping-world-will-seek-to-undercut-competition-with-new-gander-stores/


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Really ? I guess I won't shop Gander Mountain now... Camping World is an absolute disaster ! Cannot repair or manage any of their facilities and they have ZERO customer service! !I called their corporate office and no help!! The regional VP lied to me numerous times

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[olcoon]

We don't have any Gander Mountain stores within about 100 miles of where I live. However I've been in a few of their stores in our travels. Hated to see that they were closing stores, but it didn't surprise me. The stores I did visit didn't seem to have as many people in them as Cabela's, or Bass Pro, so I really wasn't surprised. I know that possibly I was just in the stores, or driving past them at a bad time.

Now that Camping World has taken them over, I'll probably not shop there as I have a bad taste in my mouth with Camping World. Seems the employees (for the most part) have an attitude, and their service department really sucks, and this seems to be nationwide.

 

[JohnDar]

Gander Mountain is gone and so is MC Sports around here. Fortunately, BassPro is nearby and carries a much larger selection of goods and a local gun store has greatly expanded their operation. And I can always buy bulk ammo online at a nice savings.

As for Camping World, there isn't one nearby and I can get what I need for the rig elsewhere.