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part 3 Designing a Customer Value–Driven Strategy and Mix
Company Case Bass Pro Shops: Creating Nature’s Theme Park for People
Who Hate to Shop
Outdoor-products megaretailer Bass Pro Shops has seemingly
been breaking the rules of retail for more than 40 years, basking
in the spoils as a result. With more than 90 retail stores through-
out the United States and Canada, the privately held Springfield,
Missouri–based company reeled in $4.3 billion in revenues last
year—nearly $50 million per store—making it the nation’s num-
ber-one outdoor-products retailer. Going against common retail
wisdom, Bass Pro Shops stores are enormous and are packed
to the rafters with overhead. Even more daring, the chain has
achieved retail success by targeting customers who hate to shop.
The typical Bass Pro Shops customer is a reclusive male out-
doorsman who yearns for the great outdoors but detests jostling
crowds and shopping.
Over the past few decades, Bass Pro Shops has evolved from
a popular mail-order catalog business into one of the nation’s
hottest store retailers. Despite Bass Pro Shops often-remote
locations, customers flock to its superstores to buy hunting, fish-
ing, and outdoor gear. Nearly 200 million people visited a Bass
Pro Shops store last year—almost double the number that at-
tended games put on by the NFL, NBA, and MLB combined. In
a true display of “destination retail,” customers drive an average
of more than 50 miles to get to a Bass Pro Shops store (some
drive hundreds of miles) and stay an average of 2 hours. Schools,
churches, and senior centers even send people in by the busload.
Filling a Gap in the Market
So what explains Bass Pro Shops’s climb to the top? Bass Pro
Shops’s ability to reel in hordes of otherwise reluctant shoppers
to its stores is part of a double-hook strategy that dates back to
the company’s beginning. First, each store guarantees a product
assortment as wide as the Mississippi River and as deep as the
Mariana Trench. In 1971, Johnny Morris—a tournament fisher-
man and avid outdoorsman—was frustrated by the lack of de-
cent fishing tackle in sporting goods stores. With the ink on his
college diploma barely dry, he rented a U-Haul trailer and headed
out on a cross-country road trip, filling the trailer with the latest
and greatest in premium fishing tackle. Returning to Springfield,
he set up shop in his father’s liquor store near Table Rock Lake.
With that, Bass Pro Shops was born.
That first Bass Pro Shops store quickly outgrew his dad’s
liquor store, and within a few years, Morris’s vision for what he
wanted Bass Pro Shops to become began to take shape. At the
time, the sporting goods retail sector was fragmented with lots of
independent retail shops catering to different outdoor activities.
To meet the needs of customers across the country, Bass Pro
Shops printed its first catalog in 1974. The company’s catalog
business has been a mainstay ever since.
At the same time, the company moved to fill a gap in brick-
and-mortar retail. With no national chain that could serve the
outdoor-loving masses, Bass Pro Shops quickly moved beyond
fishing, adding hunting, camping, outdoor cooking gear, outdoor
footwear and apparel, and nature-themed gifts. During this ex-
pansion, Bass Pro Shops not only carried the leading national
brands, it also developed a portfolio of store brands, including
its first brand, Bass Tracker—the first and still-market-leading
dedicated bass boat. By manufacturing and selling direct, Bass
Pro Shops could not only pass on huge savings to customers, it
could compete on price with just about any company.
As Bass Pro Shops grew rapidly throughout the 1970s, the
second hook of its strategy solidified with the opening of the
first Outdoor World showroom adjacent to its headquarters.
From that day on, Bass Pro Shops became more than a chain
of stores that sells lots of cool outdoors stuff—it became a place
that provided engaging customer experiences for all who visited.
Bass Pro Shops has now created what amounts to a natural
history theme park for outdoor enthusiasts—the “Walt Disney
World” of sporting goods.
Nature’s Theme Park
Take the store in Memphis, Tennessee, for example—Bass Pro
Shops at the Pyramid. Former home of the Memphis Grizzlies,
the 535,000-square-foot, 32-story glass-and-steel Pyramid now
houses the largest Bass Pro Shops store. The store is dominated
by various representations of wildlife, from the deer, duck, turkey,
bear, bobcat, and wolf tracks imprinted in the concrete floors to
the hand-painted murals from renowned artists depicting nature
scenes reflecting local geography.
But the Pyramid brings wildlife to life in three dimensions. Each
store features lifelike, museum-quality taxidermy animals in action
poses—everything from prairie dogs, deer, elk, and caribou to
brown bears, polar bears, musk oxen, and mountain goats—set
in natural dioramas that make customers feel as though they’re
on location in striking outdoor landscapes. And although the
animals are stuffed, the Pyramid store boasts 600,000 gallons of
water features stocked with live fish and other wildlife. Features
include the cypress swamp with an 84,000-gallon alligator habi-
tat (live feedings every Saturday) surrounded by 100-foot-tall
trees and the Live Duck Aviary with a four-pond multi-habitat
home to five species of ducks.
The carefully orchestrated wildlife displays set the structure
for what amounts to one of the most dynamic and captivating
retail adventures in the world. Visitors can ride the nation’s tallest
freestanding glass elevator to the Lookout, a breathtaking glass-
floored cantilevered observation deck at the top of the Pyramid.
From there, they can survey the view outside the store as well
as inside. And there is plenty to see inside, including the arcade
shooting gallery, archery and pistol ranges, Beretta Fine  Gun
Center, interactive Ducks Unlimited Waterfowling Heritage
Center, and the 103-room Big Cypress Lodge.
Because visitors to Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid often
make a day of it, the store has two full-service restaurants
on site, including Uncle Buck’s Fishbowl & Grill, one of six
company-owned restaurant chains. Uncle Buck’s offers a nau-
tical-themed dining experience with a saltwater aquarium that
weaves in and around the restaurant, offering diners full views
of exotic and  tropical fish. And before or after the meal, diners
can work up an appetite or work off calories in the Fishbowl’s
13-lane ocean-themed bowling alley where the balls are returned
through a shark’s gaping jaws.
Half the Size—All the Fun
Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid is larger and more fantastic than
any of the chain’s other stores. But each Outdoor World store is
designed to shower shoppers with the same captivating experi-
ence. Most stores are just under 200,000 square feet—about the

size of the average Walmart Supercenter—with only one restau-
rant and no hotel. But the rest of the Bass Pro Shops formula
plays out in magnificent splendor across its many North American
outlets. One mother sums up the Bass Pro Shops experience
this way:
We recently had a visiting family group that included two 5-year-
olds. They thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Bass Pro Shops! It’s half
retail store and half wildlife museum. There was plenty to see for
any outdoor sports enthusiast. The kids loved seeing real fish and
ducks, as well as plenty of inanimate displays. There were boats
they could sit on and “trees” they could hide in. The store includes
a restaurant. They offer plenty of merchandise for every budget,
but you don’t really have to spend money to enjoy the visit. Highly
recommended!
With its retail design that builds theater and entertainment into
every store, Bass Pro Shops is not only a haven for the reluctant
male outdoorsman, it’s enjoyable for everyone else. “First off, I
am not an outdoor person so Bass Pro isn’t a shop for me,” says
a recent store visitor. “That being said, I loved this store. I felt like
I was in a museum and aquarium.”
Bass Pro Shops provides even more reasons to visit, with var-
ious special events such as Family Summer Camp, Professional
Bull Riders Event, Fall Hunting Classic, and Halloween Bass Pro
Style. Each event is filled with demonstrations and activities,
including fishing and hunting seminars featuring national and
local experts. But no other Bass Pro Shops event compares to
Santa’s Wonderland, a six-week extravaganza that transforms
each Bass Pro Shops outlet into a veritable Christmas village
featuring rustic cabins, moving model trains, animated Christmas
characters, interactive talking caribou, and live elves set among
snow-covered hills and illuminated Christmas trees. Kids can
hang out in the play zone and get their hands on old-time model
trains, RC trucks, slot cars, and both laser and foam-dart guns.
Families can spend time at various activity tables and make
decorations and crafts to take home. They can also enjoy one of
various seasonal goodies. And, of course, Santa’s Wonderland
wouldn’t be complete without a visit from the jolly old elf himself,
the event’s main feature that includes a free studio-quality photo.
As amazing as Bass Pro Shops’s retail design is, the com-
pany is not alone in its approach to marketing the great out-
doors. Nebraska-based Cabela’s started its own operations just
before Bass Pro Shops. Cabela’s has almost as many stores and
pulls in nearly as much revenue. The Cabela’s retail experience is
nearly identical to that of Bass Pro Shops, down to the aquari-
ums, animal-filled dioramas, and shooting galleries.
However, the two chains have at least one major differ-
ence: Whereas Bass Pro Shops is thriving, Cabela’s long and
successful run has been dogged in recent years by declining
MyLab Marketing
Go to mymktlab.com for the following Assisted-graded writing questions:
13-23 What is retail convergence? Has it helped or harmed small retailers?
13-24 Describe the types of shopping centers and identify specific examples in your
community or a nearby city.
Chapter 13 | Retailing and Wholesaling 421
sales and losses. Falling victim to the intense competition from
online vendors, Cabela’s was recently ranked by Forbes as
the nation’s second-most troubled retail chain, trailing only the
now-defunct Radio Shack. As Cabela’s has explored options
to escape bankruptcy, the most prominent option at this point
appears to be selling the company—to Bass Pro Shops. That’s
right. The number-two outdoor retailer is currently entertaining an
offer from number one. And if it goes through, Bass Pro Shops
would not only double in size (the two chains rarely have stores
in the same market), it would gain economy-of-scale advantages
including cost savings and greater leverage with manufacturers.
But even if the acquisition of Cabela’s doesn’t pan out, Bass
Pro Shops will keep doing what it has been doing for decades—
wowing customers with the unsurpassed retail experience of its
nature theme parks. “People spend time there when they go,”
Morris says of Bass Pro Shops stores. “They can’t wait to see
what’s around the next aisle. It’s an experience. It’s about creat-
ing memories. It’s about being with friends and family. It’s about
having fun.”
Questions for Discussion
13-18 Define Bass Pro Shops’s targeting strategy. Does the
chain provide a truly differentiated experience?
13-19 Describe how Bass Pro Shops became the nation’s
leading outdoor retailer based on the retail marketing
mix.
13-20 In terms of the major types of retailers, how would you
classify Bass Pro Shops?
13-21 Why is Bass Pro Shops succeeding while Cabela’s is
floundering?
13-22 Is it a good idea for Bass Pro Shops to acquire
Cabela’s? Explain.
Sources: Sean McCoy, “Mega-Outdoors? Bass Pro, Cabela’s Merger
May Be on Horizon,” Gear Junkie, May 31, 2016, https://gearjunkie.com/
bass-pro-shops-cabelas-acquisition; Liyan Chen, “Next RadioShack?
Here Are the Most Troubled Retails Stores,” Forbes, February 10, 2015,
www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/2015/02/10/next-radioshack-here-are-
the-most-troubled-retail-stocks/#7d35e34dbc44; “Cabela’s May Have
a New Suitor,” Fortune, April 20, 2016, www.fortune.com/2016/04/20/
cabelas-suitor-goldman-sachs/; Lee Tolliver, “Money Hasn’t Changed
Humble Bass Pro Founder,” The Virginian-Pilot, January 16, 2011, www.
pilotonline.com/sports/outdoors/money-hasn-t-changed-humble-bass-
pro-founder/article_939a1378-026d-517b-9875-dd01ddc69b8e.html;
and www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?appID=9
4&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&tab=3, www.tripadvisor.
com, and www.basspro.com, accessed September 2016.