3rd June 2008

Journalist: Hannah Tatton


You may have noticed (unless youre a technophobe) that the internet provides everything and anything these days. More specifically, anything related to snowboarding. It is this issue of e-commerce that is having a profound impact on the snowboarding industry by further widening the endless opportunities for riders.


The explosion of e-commerce has meant all echelons of snowboard retailers can access wider markets and riders can access more product, both in New Zealand and offshore, making riding that much easier. 

New Zealand rider Jono Kemps buys his gear off online retailers in the US and from time to time even onsells to friends and friends of friends. Often these gears are the ones that are not stocked in New Zealand shops and are the more wished for items.

But why do people such as Jono buy online? Mainly for variation and brands that are not avaliable here in New Zealand but more importantly to benefit from the cheap price tags.

I dont like to ride in the same stuff as everyone else. So most of my gear will look weird but thats the way I like it, Kemps said.

Auckland and Queenstown Altas store went online 6 weeks ago and while it is early days, Head of North Island Area Manager Andrew Clark said the customer response is getting bigger all the time.

He said the benefits for riders are plentiful especially if you live in more remote parts of New Zealand that dont have snowboard shops. Most of Altas sales so far have been from towns where Alta is not located. One customer even ordered two New Zealand ABC skate decks from China.
The effect that the online retail has on the snowboard industry is massive, its the biggest thing we have had since slice bread.

We have really been selling product through our website for seven or eight years when people started communicating and asking for certain products online. So as that grew we could see that eventually we needed to turn it into an online store.

And there are plenty of online stores to choose from. In New Zealand alongside Alta there is Underground Skate, Base, City Boards, Torpedo7, Ballistics, Snowcentre and BWM to name a few. Not to mention Trademe - perhaps the biggest online selling and buying site and a site that all New Zealanders call home for purchasing new and used goods from wax to boards.

Your online buying power means you can add anything to your cart from boots, jackets and pants to ratchets, stomp pads and snowboards. You can buy the used and abused to the brand spanking new. Alta even stocks some favorite New Zealand apparel brands like Lower, RPM and Huffer.
But as always, there are a few weary customers among us who will not click the add to my cart button. Purchasing boots online is a classic example of where some riders stop short without the guarantee of a good fit.

Kiwis  are still a bit slow on buying online and do not have a general feel to it compared to the US and Europe. But  I think everyone is slowly and individually getting accustomed to it,said Clark.

According to Clark, the modern way of online purchasing is only going to get bigger.

I cannot see how it wont get bigger. I think the big thing at the moment is what our IT guy is telling us and that is although New Zealand has got a really low ratio of people with broadband compared to a lot of overseas places, things like Telecom unbundling means that over time, the internet should be more affordable with faster connections.

That way, you will see a lot more product move and online purchasing becoming more efficient and avaliable to customers, Clark explained.
However, there are also cons that come with the pros of buying online. Shipping costs for overseas purchases are rising in wake of oil price hikes. In New Zealand you also get taxed 12.5% by NZ customs for shipping in anything worth over NZ$400.


The true extent to which the electronic retail or e-tail way of buying is opening up the doors for the snowboarding community and industry is large.

So perhaps its time to ditch the phobia and jump on the e-tail bandwagon of your nearest store to get the snowboard shopping and service satisfaction you need.

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