Online sporting goods retailer Fogdog Inc. launched an institutional store offering
products for institutional, school and recreational buyers.
Targeting the $20 billion institutional sporting goods market, the new store
will sell everything from baseballs by the dozen to scoreboards, goalposts
and bleachers, the company said.
The move follows last week’s launch of a women’s sporting goods store off the main Fogdogsite.
The company said it will offer faster delivery than traditional catalog
purchasing and will offer a Quick Ship link that enables customers to search
for an array of products that have a guaranteed 48-hour shipping time. Also,
buyers can set up an account with Fogdog to pay for equipment using purchase
orders, the primary purchasing medium for many institutions.
The store will carry products for archery, baseball, basketball, field
hockey, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, physical education, soccer,
tennis and volleyball.
The “Field and Court Set-Up” section gives visitors a one-click view of the
equipment necessary to set up a playing field such as a baseball field or a
volleyball court. The new
store offers five different line marking machines, 14 batting cages, 22
soccer goal nets and 35 different types of footballs. The Institutional store
also has automated volume pricing and automatically applied quantity
discounts on team essentials like
balls, bats and bags.
“Businesses continue to look to the Web for ways to streamline their
operations and sporting goods purchasing is no exception,” said Fogdog Chief Executive Officer
Tim Harrington.