Look Here For Outdoor Gear - EMS.COM
Written: Apr 19 '04
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The Northeastern answer to REI, Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) has brick and mortar stores throughout the Northeast (the company is based out of New Hampshire, in North Conway) and through their website, no anyone can enjoy shopping for the many outdoor recreation products that carry the EMS name, along with many other products from other manufacturers.
Basic Setup
The setup of EMS.com is fairly straightforward. The entry page generally includes products that are on sale in a right-hand column, the left hand column provides basic site navigation (shop for gear, clothing or services) and in the center of the page, clothing and gear highlights are given for various popular sections. You can also search for products through a search box on the top left-hand side of the page that will search the entire site for the product you are looking for.
The selection of gear, clothing and services on EMS.com is extensive. The gear section includes at it’s highest breakdown level:
Camping and Hiking Gear
Climbing Gear
Canoe and Kayak Gear
Cycling Gear
Fitness Gear & Clothing
Travel Gear
If you just want all the products, listed out by name, EMS.com offers an option to look at all the gear together. This can be helpful if you’re just browsing and want to see what is available. This gear includes both EMS branded gear, along with gear from other well known outdoor manufacturers including North Face, MSR, Patagonia and the like.
If you are looking for clothing, EMS.com offers clothing for men, women and children. The clothing also includes EMS’ own clothing lines (outerwear, all kinds of regular clothing and underwear), along with the other outdoor manufacturers lines of clothing. You can also browse through the extensive selection of footwear in this section.
The third and final section of EMS.com offers shoppers a chance to browse through the services that are available through EMS. This includes a kayaking school, a climbing school, an opportunity to shop by most popular brands, suggested gear and clothing depending upon the season, information on group sales (if you are interested in equipping an outdoor group or a school group, EMS offers discounted group sales). In this section you can visit the gear and clothing outlet where clearance products are put up for what can sometimes be pretty big discounts, along with an option to find the store that is closest to your location. Customer service is also accessible through this section.
Price & Selection
Between EMS’ own brands and the many other lines of products that they carry from other outdoor gear and clothing manufacturers, you would be hard pressed to not find what you are looking for at EMS.com. EMS offers its own products in almost every category and backs them all with a lifetime warranty, in addition to multitude of other outdoor products available.
Prices are what you would expect at most any major outdoor retailer. The prices are comparable to REI.com and are a bit higher than the major discount outdoor retailers like Campmor or Sierra Trading Post.
Processing an order
It’s pretty easy to browse and find what you are looking for at EMS.com. Once you have found the product that you want, on the product’s page, you choose a color and size (if applicable) and then click on the “add to cart button.” Once you have added something to your cart, you are brought to your shopping cart where you continue shopping or check out. If you click on “continue shopping” you are brought back to the homepage – which can be a pain if you’ve already navigated down several layers into products – if that’s the case, just click on the back button a few times from the shopping cart.
If you want to checkout, just click on the checkout button and you’re brought to a screen that asks for your email address. For new customers, once your email is provided, you are asked to fill out personal information for your shipping. At the same time you are asked to choose shipping. EMS.com offers standard 2 to 10 day shipping (the cheapest), 2 day shipping, Saturday delivery and overnight shipping. Prices increase as you want quicker and quicker delivery. At this point you can identify the order as a gift and type a message you would like included in a gift card.
When you click on continue you’re asked if you want to register your information to EMS.com. By providing a password, EMS.com will save your shipping and billing information for the next time you shop. This is optional, and you do not have to have EMS.com save any of your personal information
Once you have gotten past the registration option, you are brought to the billing section, where you choose the method of payment. EMS.com accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa. You are asked to confirm your billing address along with the billing information and once that is done and you click on “place order,” a confirmation page will come up showing your order number and the expected delivery. You are also sent an email confirmation and provided with tracking information for the package.
Getting the Order
I’ve never had a problem receiving what I ordered through EMS.com. I’ve also chosen the basic (and least expensive) shipping option. My orders have generally arrived within 5 or 6 days of placing the order, but at times have been slightly delayed to about 7 days around the holidays or longer when an item has gone on backorder. If a product is backordered, EMS.com will email you with the information and ship any other products that you ordered that aren’t backordered. You aren’t charged for the backordered item until it ships.
Thoughts
I’m torn between EMS.com and REI.com – both sites have just about anything and prices are very competitive between the two. Both offer clearance and discount centers where you can get a good deal on some items. REI does offer membership and a chance to earn back some of your purchases in cash, but EMS.com offers many EMS branded products that rival or surpass the quality of REI branded products and many other manufacturers’ products at a fair price.
EMS.com shouldn’t be the only stop online if you’re looking for outdoor gear, but between the excellent selection and fair prices, it is definitely worth checking out.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? multiple products
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