The Online Insider Fights The Sports Authority - and Authority Always Wins!
Written: Aug 06 '06
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One of the biggest problems online stores that have large inventories face is making those products navigable for consumers. It's fine to have millions of items, but if no one can find them, you're really not helping anyone. So stores like Amazon and the Sports Authority have thought long and hard about how users shop for their goods, and have arranged their websites accordingly.
About the Sports Authority
I always read the about us section of any website I buy from, as I find it generally interesting. Here's what I found out about The Sports Authority from their site. They opened their first store in November 1987 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. However, they weren't a private company for long. In 1990, with approximately nine stores in six states, the company was acquired by Kmart. Five years later, The Sports Authority had expanded to 136 stores in 26 states, and was spun-off from parent Kmart. Currently, Sports Authority has 205 stores in 33 states. The Sports Authority is another offline retailer that saw the benefit of partnering with GSI Commerce, Inc. This company is a market leader in private labelling major brand sites and operating them for the company. So it is with www.sportsauthority.com, as GSI runs the site under license and e-commerce agreements signed with Sports Authority, Inc.
Using the Site: Navigation
I'm not shocked to find that using the site is fairly easy. GSI knows how to build and run websites. The top of the site contains strong branding and site search elements, as well as customer service and shopping cart links. The store navigator sub-header allows the consumer to jump to almost every category of merchandise with one click. There are 12 top categories (Exercise/Fitness, Apparel, Foot wear, Team Sports, Golf/Raquets, Outdoor, Action Sports, Fan Shop, Games, Accessories, Women's Shop, and the Outlet shop. Each category has a rollover menu that pops up that directs you to any number of subcategories. For instance, Team Sports has the following subcategories: Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cheerleading, Cricket, Field Hockey, Figure Skating, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Roller Hockey, Rugby, Soccer, Softball Sports Training, Track & Field, Volleyball, Water Polo and Wrestling. You can tell this is a full line retailer for sports by the inventory that they carry!
But they don't stop there for navigation. At the top left of the page, you can find the most common items and top shops that consumers use at SA.com. You can browse by: Shop Sports A-Z, Back To School, Basketball Systems, Bats, Clearance Center, Exercise Equipment, Heelys Roller Shoes, Trampolines, Under Armour and Group Sales (for team uniforms).
The site's main area also contains graphic links to golf, tennis and footwear areas, which are probably the main reasons folks visit the site.
Underneath this area, there are smaller shop by brand and featured items that people can access. All in all, a great job of making their voluminous inventory searchable by many consumers in many different ways.
Using the Site: Buying from SportsAuthority.com
Unfortunately, I had to use this site to purchase a David Wright replica Mets Jersey for my brother. I have a strong aversion to anything Mets related, but this is what he wanted...
To find this item, I looked under the heading for Fan Shops and headed to the MLB area. Once there, I clicked on the New York Mets link, and was presented with the list of items that bore the hated team's logo. You can purchase the following types of Mets paraphenalia at Sports Authority - New York Mets
Jerseys, Caps, Men's, Women's, Kids, Collectibles, Memorabilia, Baseball Cards, DVDs/Books, Home / Office.
When you click on Jerseys, you can quickly find 2 pages of Jerseys. I picked the New York Mets Authentic David Wright Alternate Home 2 Jersey w / 2006 All Star Patch by Majestic Athletic for $254.99. The jersey looks about as good as a Mets jersey can, and it has Wright's name and number on the back.
The product page shows the item in a bit more detail and really shows off the All Star patch (which makes it a nice piece of memorabilia). It also informs me that I'm going to get free shipping, which is a nice bonus.
The site shows the availability and sales tax applicability for the item as well - GSI is tightly tied into supply from their warehouse, as they are a soup to nuts platform.
You can add it to your cart in one click, and check out in five pages without an account set up. They do it in a bite size manner, which is why the page count is a bit higher than normal. Still, it's an easy process.
Shipping and Handling
Although the Insider lucked out with the shipping on this item - there are usually shipping costs that you could face.
Shipping costs for orders placed on this site are based on the weight of the total order. An order containing multiple items typically receives a volume-shipping discount and therefore your total shipping and handling cost may be lower than the sum of individual ship charges appearing in your cart. You will be provided with the total shipping cost for your order during Checkout.
The Insider's BottomLine
This is a great site to buy sports merchandise of all kinds from! The jersey arrived on time - and my brother wore it on a trip to Boston to see the Mets play the Red Sox at Fenway.
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? David Wright Replica Jersey
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bhweb22
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Member: Brian H
Location: Northeast
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I'm an Internet GEEK.
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