|
|
|
Interview &
Event Article:
|
Talking Monster Tackle with Outdoor Pro Shop
(continued)
  Zander: OPS has a successful line of retail
shops, and after seeing this store firsthand it is nor surprise that anglers
would come here to get outfitted for Northern California fishing, but what are
your goals with the new Monster e-tail store?
Pat: "MonsterFishingTackle.com
was built to allow us to market to anglers all over North America. Based in
Northern California, which is often the leading edge in fishing technology, we
have the ability to market cutting edge equipment to anglers everywhere. We also
like to think that MonsterFishingTackle.com is beginning to become an online
meeting place for anglers to get together and share their fishing knowledge and
stories."
Lots of rod choices in the bass
rod department
"On top of that, we have
begun our efforts of making MonsterFishingTackle.com an online magazine and
instructional website as well. We’ve already got a couple articles and videos up
that can teach beginners and novice anglers a little something to make them more
successful on the water. We plan to continue to increase this information as
the site grows in popularity. The feedback on our first “intro to frog fishing”
video was great and we enjoy that, knowing that we help anglers put fish in the
boat, or at least gain confidence in a technique is pretty exciting for us at
OPS/MFT."
Pat shows us the topwater baits
and holds up the "Tweety" yellow headed frog which OPS had before many other
retailers
Zander: How do you decide what products to
carry both in the retail store and on Monster with so many manufacturers to pick
from?
Pat: "A basic guideline to new product selection is;
would we personally fish with this item ourselves? If we don’t believe in a new
product 100% then why would we sell it to our customers? Every day we are asked
about a one item or the next. Well if I can’t say with certainty it is a first
class lure that will catch fish our reputation with the customers takes a hit
one bad lure at a time. We could sell a low quality reel today, but the
customer may never come back. Our reputation is on the line on a daily basis.
New products are only as good as the happiness of our customers. What everyone
wants is to get the most bang for their buck. Our buying decisions must take
into account the value of each product."
Plenty of crankbaits to pick from
"That’s the science of running a tackle shop. Essentially
the fish tell the anglers and the anglers tell us what they want. We’ve got a
huge network of anglers from the west coast to Florida and up to New York and
even Maine. These guys give us feedback and a heads-up when a bait gets hot in
their area and we do what we can to bring that product into stock. Then we take
it a step further and do what we can to provide the anglers some information to
be successful with these baits. One great example is the new BBS Bulldog bait
by Lucky Craft. One of the big name Lucky Craft guys saw this bait and knew it
was going to be huge. He let us know about it and we literally bought every one
of them in the U.S. so we can get them to our customers."
Pat shows Zander the new Skeet
Reese and Gary Dobyns special new Lucky Craft patterns
"Another great advantage that we have are the close ties
with several dozen of the BASS and FLW pros. That’s important because they set
the trends on tackle in our market. When a BASS pro wins a tournament it
creates a demand for that bait, we’ll have that information even before the
press gets it out there. We’ll get that bait ready and in stock deep enough to
cover the demand, so when a customer wants it, we’ve got it! We are just
getting to the point where this is starting to show, but in the future, this
will be a huge asset to both OPS and Monster."
The Lucky Craft selection
Zander: So let's get down to what makes OPS
and Monster tackle unique for consumers?
Pat: "A main part of what puts Outdoor Pro Shop on the map is our
relationships with the entire fishing industry. Ken has spent a large part of
his time making solid relationships with top manufactures, Shimano, G. Loomis,
Lamiglas, Accurate, and hundreds more. Outdoor Pro Shop is one of the few shops
in the country to buy direct from all the top vendors in the industry. It is
our relationships that come into play when a new reel hits the market, Shimano
Curado for example. We were one of the first in the country to get our
shipment. There are countless examples where these relationships/friendships
have given OPS the edge on the competition with either selection or often times
with a special price."
OPS stocks a serious amount of
swimbaits with over a complete aisle dedicated to the big baits
"A close second unique feature of our company is our
commitment to customer service. We really want our customers to be happy with
their purchase. We want to do more than just give them a bait and say “good
luck”. For some guys that’s all they want, and with our site, they can have
that. However, there are many other anglers out there looking for more than
just “here’s your bait. See you in a month.” They want a full service shop but,
without having to drive across town or even hours in some cases. That is why we
are really going to emphasize the articles, videos, interviews with the pros and
more. We want this stuff to improve the customers fishing skills and help them
be successful on the water."
OPS specializes in stocking hard
to find and exclusive baits like the special patterns of the JSJ Snack Sized
Trout for example
"Another goal of MonsterFishingTackle.com is making our
online shop feel like a local shop, in that you can stop by and chat, get to
know the other guys and share stories, thoughts and more all without leaving
your couch or while you are supposed to be working. We do this with our forums,
photo albums, live chat and our state of the art audio fishing reports for some
areas. The forums have been the main focus on this front so far, and customers
are already having some pretty good conversations about baits, lakes, big fish
and even fantasy football. We are pleased so far with the way the forums have
really started to catch on and it’s a great bunch of guys and gals just having a
good time and talking fishing."
Terminal tackle... lots of it.
"We’ve got a few more tricks up our sleeves for the site
that we haven’t launched quite yet. It’s pretty advanced technology so it’s
taking some time to get dialed in but, when we launch it it’ll be something
nobody else is doing and it’ll be a great resource for anglers all over North
America."
Pat shows us the saltwater and
long range rooms, each section is broken out like a application specific
boutique
Next
Section: Steelhead and Fly too
|
|
|
