Cabela's 2013 Annual Report Download - page 5

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It’s In Your Nature was Cabela’s first national,
mainstream media marketing event, which focused
on an emotional connection to the audience. The
response was overwhelmingly positive. Our customers
and other outdoor enthusiasts made a deep personal
connection to the It’s In Your Nature series of videos
and advertisements. We utilized various media sources
to reach our viewers, including print, television, social
media, and YouTube, among others. The successful
launch of the It’s In Your Nature campaign will provide
a basis upon which we will expand our advertising
for years to come, making meaningful emotional
connections with our customers.
Future expansion of both merchandise gross margin
and operating margin will benefit greatly from our
investment in net SKU profitability and price optimization
tools during 2013. Net SKU profitability provides us
with visibility into the direct costs associated with our
products at an individual SKU level. This visibility will
allow us to improve the bottom line performance of our
product assortment by improving processes and further
cultivating vendor collaboration.
During the second half of 2013, we kicked off our price
optimization project by implementing the first of three
modules. Developed by Revionics and used by other
successful retailers, the price optimization tool utilizes an
expansive database and applies analytics at the SKU level
to determine the optimal pricing level, promotional strategy,
and markdown process. This tool will be a meaningful
driver of future improvements to merchandise performance.
Fulfilling our customers’ needs at a world-class level
is of utmost importance, and through our integration
of omni-channel fulfillment in 2013, we were able
to enhance customer experience. Omni-channel
fulfillment gives us the ability to fulfill a direct channel
order through accessing inventory in our retail stores.
Requiring minimal capital investment, this enhancement
has allowed for inventory visibility across the
enterprise and has given our customers access to our
entire assortment.
Keeping pace with the evolution of technology can be
challenging. In 2013, we made substantial progress
in updating our technological capabilities through the
implementation of mobile devices for retail Outfitters,
the rollout of our new mobile shopping platform, and the
development of a full-time digital customer-experience
and mobility team in our Foothills office near Denver.
Outfitter mobility allows retail Outfitters to provide an
abundance of information for customers without being
forced to leave the customer. Outfitters can retrieve
pricing data, inventory availability, product specific
information, customer reviews and ratings, and even
video conference with expert Outfitters throughout
the organization, all while maintaining a one-on-one
customer experience.
As our customers’ shopping habits have migrated
from traditional media, we have focused on developing
technological capabilities to provide legendary customer
service regardless of how customers prefer to interact
with us. In the fall of 2013, we launched our new
and improved mobile platform, giving customers the
shopping experience on their mobile devices they have
come to expect from Cabela’s. Our new mobile platform
allows customers to access our cabelas.com site on
their choice of mobile devices without sacrificing any
user-friendly aspects associated with shopping on a
desktop or laptop.
Our DCEM program was another significant investment
in the future of our company for 2013. We currently
have approximately 50 Outfitters working in our Foothills
office focused on enhancing customer relationships
through social media, digital marketing, mobile
devices, and email campaigns. Our DCEM Outfitters
have the ability to reach all demographic profiles of
our customers through various social media tools,
including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube. As
the preferences of customers fluctuate and technology
becomes a larger component of our everyday lives, it is
important we build our talent and capabilities to meet
customers’ demands.