Rock/Creek owners Marvin Webb and Dawson Wheeler returned from this year's Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City with a prestigious honor: Online Retailer of the Year, a new award from Backpacker Magazine and SNEWS.
Out of 100 customer-generated nominations, 10 finalists were selected, six of which won an award in a select category. Judges cited Rock/Creek's clean design, helpful customer service and live chat representatives as contributing to their selection of the company for Best Online Retailer.
Rock/Creek is a locally-owned, independent outdoor retailer with over two decades of experience in Chattanooga. The owners, both Signal Mountain residents, have spent 21 years growing the outdoor sports they love. They have been in business online for over 10 of those 21 years.
Mr. Wheeler said, "We're thrilled to be recognized for our efforts online. We've always challenged ourselves to give customers the same high-quality experience they expect from the gear experts in our traditional brick-and-mortar stores. I think this award validates those efforts, and reminds us all of the viability of outdoor specialty on the web."
Michael Hodgson of SNEWS explained the methodology used to narrow the nominations down to winners: "The slate of finalists, determined in the first round of voting, was presented to a panel of judges (which included Backpacker magazine and SNEWS editors) who evaluated each store based on personal and customer experience, reputation in the outdoor community, quality of customer feedback from the nomination forms received, and overall store excellence based on demonstrated excellence in community involvement, sustainability efforts, store training levels, and more."