I dont think its shocking that this is a conversion monster – if you pre-qualify your leads by letting them browse in a paper catalog prior to finding your site, of course your conversion rates will be better. Content is also probably a big driver.

And I completely agree that cheesy is working for them – who would buy ammo and hunting knives on a posh site?

It’s really amazing that this site converts so well, and it might indicate that if you offer great products at a good price, and you have some brand recognition, you could have a cheesy site and still make a lot of money.

With regards to the trust of the site. I have been thinking a lot about this, and I have started to believe that a srong brand it the only way to really build trust in your online shop. If I recognise a brand, I know that the shop is a serious business, and they won’t defraud me. Unfortunately this means spending on marketing before you have a trusted shop.

I think its one of those cases where “if you emphasize everything, you are emphasizing nothing”. Case and point being the bold red font for pricing. If that’s used on 1-2 items it gets my attention… but being used on every single item as a markdown price I simply tune it out. My eye has no clue what I should look at – what is most important?

A good rule I like to follow for conversions is to stand 10-15 feet from your screen, such that the type is too small to read. Then, ask “what’s important here”. If you can’t identify 1-2 items than there may be a lack of focus. This is probably more true for lead-generation sites though than e-commerce sites, where there isn’t as clearly one singular goal but rather many.

Admittedly, I just gave this a brief look and nothing in depth. I did also notice though an annoying pop-up on my first visit that was not there the second time around. Note it wasn’t just a popup, but indeed an annoying one.

There are things that could be improved on the site, but if I were to do a re-design, I would definitely leave a bit of the cheese in there.

I think it works for their target market.

I remember being humbled by a master eBay marketer who has sold well over $30 million in diamonds on that marketplace.

I tried to get him to change his template to one that looked very professional and if I say myself, elegant.

All he would agree to was a test.

His CHEESY template with waving American flags and obnoxious YOU SAVE 70%!!! banners kicked out butt. It was wasn’t even close.

He knew his customers better than we did and he knew they associated elegant with over-priced and cheesy with a great deal.

He was a master at triggering their buy impulse.

Tim

It may be a monster in terms of traffic because it’s got a ton of great content and is frequently updated; and a high converting site because of it has unique products at great prices – its catalog doesn’t hurt either

That being said, I still feel very strongly that it’s time for a redesign because of the design looks like it was made in 1996, the layout is confusing, and the checkout process can use a serious makeover.

Thanks for checking out my post!

First of all, I remember flipping through their catalogs on cold winter nights dreaming of spring and summer.

Now, however, I love showing this site to customers who become enamored with beautiful, but inefficient, designs.

It’s fun to see their mouths drop when you tell them this site is consistently one the highest converting web site and a monster in terms of traffic and sales.

For that reason, I hope they keep their current design