Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin (Part 5)

Sramana: You have made several references to your customer communities and lifestyles. Do you have an online community of users centered on a particular lifestyle which your experts moderate? For example, do you have a moderated hunters forum?

Mark Levitin: Very much so. We have tens of thousands of posts on our forums. It is not unusual to have a subject with 10,000 to 20,000 views. We also write a number of blogs. We have subject matter experts who work for us who also have social media personalities. They have followers on Twitter. I keep using the word “destination.” It is not a place where you go to buy the cheapest product and leave. It is a place where you go to talk to peers and conduct research.

It is virtually impossible for retailers to carry every item in an established category. That is true for online stores as well as brick-and-mortar stores. We carry 60 brands of binoculars that range from $20 to $6,000. That makes us a destination. We have the product, we have the community, and we have the expertise.

Sramana: Are you running different domain names for your destination categories?

Mark Levitin: We have specialized domains for some of the destinations. I could direct you to OpticsBlog.com as one example. That focuses on general outdoor applications which require high-quality optics. That covers things like bird watching and outdoor sporting events. We also have separate domains that we own, which are independently managed. Those are intended to be a service to society in general. Our specialists participate in third party media as well.

Sramana: We have talked about content, community, and commerce in the context of high-quality optical equipment and instruments. What about personalization? If I were a hunter and a regular customer who engaged on your forums, could I expect you to cater to my needs based on our history together?

Mark Levitin: Yes, definitely. Customization is a very expensive proposition. We offer customization on the product side. We do have multiple programs where we can build you custom sunglasses. You can choose your own coatings, colors, sizes, and so on. In the hunting segment, we have the ability to put a custom rifle scope in our customer’s hands. We work with our manufacturers to customize the color and have an engraving on the scope. People take these things very personally; they are passionate about their hobby. We enable that with our tools and our expertise.

We also have an invitation-only flash sale which is gear-centric. That site is DVOR.com. We are unique because we are the only gear-only site that focused on enthusiasts and professionals alike. It is a fully customizable experience. The user interface is such that you can choose anything without being invasive. Some people choose to receive four email offers a day. I am often surprised at how much people choose to engage. I personally prefer to be left alone but there are people out there who are opportunist and want to know. The DVOR.com interface allows you to choose your lifestyle. Not only can you identify yourself as a birdwatcher, you can identify the particular bird you like to watch which could require a particular type of binocular. This allows us to customize the offers we are able to present to you.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Bootstrapping A 100M+ E-Commerce Company: OpticsPlanet CEO Mark Levitin
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