Stites started his business in 1995, with a single (and still active) website, PaintballOnline.com. Over time, he said, he expanded organically into ancillary categories such as skateboard equipment and airsoft products, and rebranded his business as Xtremez. Although he later divested these other categories, he continued to expand his paintball business, acquiring a competitor out of Ohio (XPaintball.com).
In 2008, he acquired OurDesigns.com, which produces customized badges and other products for police officers and firefighters.
“They were struggling financially,” said Stites, “because they weren’t taking advantage of the Internet.”
By applying Internet marketing techniques to the new business, Stites said he has now turned the website around and made it profitable. 2010 marked the acquisition of PrankPlace.com, which comprises seven different sites, such as funideas.com and gagworks.com.
iStores’ headquarters are in Vancouver, and their warehouse – with more than 14,000 unique items – is located in Tennessee. Stites said that his firm, which employs 16 people in Vancouver, logs an average 25,000 unique visitors on their websites daily.
Although Stites said he is still interested in acquiring other e-commerce businesses that fit his business model, he is currently focused on organic growth. For example, he said he was rolling out a variety of different partnerships with manufacturers that will allow him to dramatically increase the selection of products that iStores offers on an order-on-demand or drop-ship basis – eliminating inventory risk with these items.
“We will be using real-time XML data feeds from suppliers and automating drop-ship orders so they are seamless to the customer,” said Stites.
He is also incorporating advanced features on his websites that enable product-specific merchandising. For instance, he said that although you can buy a paintball gun from Amazon.com, you can’t necessarily find out if a particular hopper or tank will work with a particular gun. Soon, he noted, iStores’ websites will more easily support customization of paintball gun, badges and other complex products.
Another way Stites is using technology to grow his business is sophisticated targeted ad campaigns. These are based on tracking who visits iStores’ sites, what they buy and how they browse. Stites gave an example of a customer who visits PaintballOnline.com, and buys a paint gun. When that same customer is browsing a local newspaper site, an ad will display for paintball gun accessories.
“They’re going to see ads anyway,” said Stites. “They might as well see ads for things that interest them. We’re delivering more value to the viewer.”
Stites said three common threads run through his tapestry of websites, and have led to his continued growth and success:
“Do common things uncommonly well; make it easier for customers; retail is detail, and it’s the same online.”
