Question: The ski and snowboard community is relatively small, so Evo-the Seattle-based snowboard, ski, skateboard, and wakeboard store-is always looking to maximize their exposure, and that means crossing borders and going global. The company started as an online outlet, selling closeouts and used gear to bargain hunters. Over the years, they have expanded their offerings to include first-quality new stuff, trips to exotic locales, and a retail store in Seattle. "There's a ton of really exciting things that happen here at a regional level that have an impact on the global community," says Molly Hawkins, in charge of brand and events marketing at Evo. One of the most effective ways they reach their consumers is through advertisements and editorial pieces in the top snow sports magazines. Publications such as Freeskier Magazine, Powder, and The Ski Journal all have international circulations. International exposure is nice, but selling the gear keeps the lights on. Their expertise in e-commerce makes for a fairly easy transition into the global marketplace. Canada, not surprisingly, is one of Evo's largest international markets. "Our daily unique [visitors] for example, from July 2008, we have like, 64,000 from Canada," notes Hawkins. The United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Korea are also quite big for Evo with daily visitors to their Web sites in the 20,000 range-and that's in July! But, here's the rub: all of the products Evo sells are name brand items that are for sale in local shops overseas.
These brands often restrict the sales of their products to licensed resellers within a particular geographical zone. With the Internet, these rules become quite complicated. Evo can't stop someone in Japan from placing an order. They are working with their resellers to come up with a way to honor the contracts, but still be able to serve customers everywhere. The world of business is becoming increasingly borderless, but there are still cultural issues to grapple with. Marketing and advertising is a particularly difficult thing to do globally. If language were the only hurdle, it would be fairly simple to translate. Unfortunately, even among English-speaking nations, cultural subtleties and colloquialisms can turn an innocent euphemism into a deeply offensive word. "I work with a lot of our vendors in marketing, looking for ways to co-promote their products through Evo," says Hawkins. "Like Rossignol, they're based out of Europe. Their business style and their designs and branding and marketing ideas are definitely, ah, different." Hawkins and her staff tend to leave the marketing of the company pretty generic.
Their main propositions: best brands, best prices, and a top-notch knowledge base really know no boundaries. Evo has extended its commitment to a boundaryless world by offering extreme skiing and boarding expeditions to some of the world's most incredible destinations. "EvoTrip is such a natural extension of the Evo brand," says Bryce Phillips, Evo's founder, "and we're doing it with great activities-skiing, snowboarding, surfing." "EvoTrip is definitely unique," says Hawkins. "There are other companies that are doing something similar, but our product is a little different in that we really take people on these extreme trips that people like Bryce and people here at Evo would actually go on. They know the intricacies of getting around these areas and so I think without them, for someone who just wanted to go down there on their own, they wouldn't have the same kind of experience. These guys have that insider info, that connection." "The reason why I get so excited about this concept is that it is near and dear to what all of us value," says Phillips. "It's just like, getting out there, learning more about different cultures, doing the activities in different parts of the world and seeing beautiful locations you might never have seen before." Through a partnership with online travel site JustFares.com-and local guides and professional athletes in each country-they will offer trips to South America, Japan, Indonesia, Switzerland, and many more locations. It's not all about the adventure, of course; sound business is behind it all. Every trip allows Evo's "ambassadors" to get in front of their actual potential customers in each of the countries they visit. No translations. No miscommunications. No boundaries.
1. Why doesn't Evo need to tailor its marketing to different countries? Do you agree with their decision to present one marketing message? Why or why not?
2. What challenges do U.S. e-commerce companies face when selling their products overseas? Do you believe brands have the right to limit a company's right to sell internationally?