Outdoor Insight

What has been your strongest sell- ing category this year? Sportswear for both men and women has been the strongest by both growth and margin, followed by footwear. How do you compete as a brick- and-mortar store in today's retail environment? As a retailer we can only control what we buy, who we buy it from and how we present ourselves in the community/region and socially. And the locations we do business at and our team. Sounds simple, right? It's not. It's a given that merchandising, selection, pro- gramming, events and being a very active community member are necessary. Successfully moving forward requires examin- ing all business relationships and stopping those that are damaging to our company's health. How do you stay competitive against your own suppliers sell- ing online? Perhaps you don't. Vendors today have a huge competitive advantage. They write their dealer and sales policies to create advantages, they have our sales information, they have our order itself, i.e. our selec- tion, and if we are successful they can market directly into our mar- ketplace, which they do. Sound fair? Our industry has a problem — and like most problems the solutions are painful and change could come too slow. Most good retailers are basically doing the same things, which today are must-dos. The must-dos center around customer engagement in-store and in the community, highly trained staffs, and well-managed inventories. This has been part of our culture for 30 years. The difference today is that we are being asked to do more with less. In a market where products are over distributed, commoditized and over invento- ried, it's difficult for price to hold. You can't cheat basic economics. What is the biggest factor that's helped you remain successful over the years? We have been active members of our community for 30 years. We work with our city government chairing sport and outdoor com- mittees; we have RFP's for rentals in our parks; we have long-stand- ing climbing and trail running events; we have great locations; we have educational events in- store; we have product demos and added-value staff. Our ownership and leadership team are in stores, active and leading off the front. Our community involvement with our non-profits is very proactive. How have you utilized technol- ogy, social media or events to stay relevant and competitive in today's market? It all starts with being authentic. Customers know the difference. Stay on message, which needs to center around your brand book. Your team needs to understand how customers receive their infor- mation and how they are inspired. We work with companies like Locally.com, Rootsrated.com and Outlawdonkey.com, which each bring a contemporary vision that adds value to our company. W hat's the biggest surprise in your business to date? The slow solutions being adopted by our vendors to stabilize healthy specialty business, which include some very large retailers and long-standing community- based retailers. Specialty retail plays a valuable role in the overall health of our industry. O What has been your strongest selling category this year? Hard goods of all sorts have been strong. Camping and eyewear have been exceptional. How do you compete as a brick- and-mortar store in today's retail environment? Sunlight is really all about where we live and the people in our community. No one else, especially suppliers, has that, so we choose our moves and strategies based on location and locals first, and then brands. Then, we are super selective about which brands we work with. If a brand is going to choose to really try to take our business after we ordered and paid our bill, we will go find another brand. There are very few irreplaceable brands. Luckily, one of the things that makes those few brands irreplaceable is their willingness and ability to partner rather than compete. What is the biggest factor you've found in remaining successful over the years? We obsess over our own brand. It's our biggest asset and it insulates us to an extent from bad choices that suppliers might make. We have some very strong brand partners that we love, but we don't build our Sunlight brand with their assets. We use our own assets — our own imagery, content and voice. It's the biggest piece of our current success. We build our own profile and hopefully it reinforces the brands that are in our store. How have you utilized technology, social media, or real-life events to stay relevant and competitive? All of those things are just channels through which we speak to our customers and friends. The trick is that we think about what we want to say and then pick the right method of speaking as a brand. If it's a message that is best received through social media, then we post. If it's a message best delivered through getting people together and having fun, then we have an event. And technology just allows us to speak efficiently. What is the biggest surprise in your business to date? The biggest surprise for us has been the vitality of hard goods. We're a fairly technical shop, but when you read the trades you would think that anything technical is dying. But it's not; it's just shifting. O August 2017 • Outdoor Insight • 37 outdoorinsightmag.com Wes Allen: Sunlight Sports, Lander, WY Chad Wykle: Rock Creek Outfitters, Chattanooga, TN "We are super selective about which brands we work with. If a brand is going to choose to really try to take our business after we ordered and paid our bill, we will go find another brand." "It all starts with being authentic. Customers know the difference. Stay on message, which needs to center around your brand book."

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