Zumiez, a publicly traded retailer, is a specialty retailer focusing on those in the teen to early 20s market who are seeking the action sports or “rider” lifestyle. These sports include snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, BMX, and motocross. The merchandise mix reflects brands, which support and are symbols of this lifestyle. Zumiez has been successful in creating a store format that gives the store an independent specialty shop feel, despite the fact that it is a large chain. The company was founded in 1978, and by 2011, had grown to over 400 stores with a presence in 37 states.

In order to set itself apart from competition in the market, Zumiez focuses on a handful of competitive strengths to create its unique place in the market.

■ Attractive Lifestyle Retailing Concept: The Zumiez brand not only appeals to action sports participants, but also those who aspire to associate with the lifestyle.
■ Differentiated Merchandising Strategy: A wide variety of soft goods and hard goods across brands are carried in a Zumiez store. In fact, the highest selling brand (including private labels) in a given year typically represents roughly 7 percent of total sales. The depth of the merchandise assortment means that Zumiez typically carries products that cannot be found at other stores in the mall. Action sports gear and apparel is a trend style driven business and Zumiez’s attempts to react to trends as quickly as possible to have a fresh assortment available in store. Finally, product assortment may vary by geographic region, based upon local preferences.
■ Deep-rooted Culture: Customer service is a very important aspect of Zumiez’s culture, and the company strives to promote management from within to maintain a consistent culture from top to bottom in the organization.
■ Distinctive Store Experience: A typical Zumiez store is set up to encourage a longer shopping experience or simply “hanging out.” Features such as couches encourage customers to interact with each other and store employees, creating a familiar environment that encourages frequent visits.
■ Disciplined Operating Philosophy: A combination of measuring results, comprehensive training, and incentives to drive performance.

■ High Impact, Integrated Marketing Approach: Zumiez focuses on reaching customers in their environment to fully immerse the company in the action sports lifestyle, to build the brand reputation, and to gather feedback from action sports participants. Activities such as local sporting and music event promotions, social media, and the Zumiez Couch Tour help build this relationship with customers. An annual free event which began in 2000, the Zumiez Couch Tour, features professional skateboarding exhibitions, live music, participative activities, and giveaways for festival goers. In 2011, the tour visited 12 cities, featured demos by 11 professional skate teams, and was headlined by the popular band Forever the Sickest Kids. Zumiez utilizes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and a Zumiez Couch Tour Ipad/Iphone app to provide interaction spaces for event goers, fans, and Zumiez customers.

Zumiez has been growing rapidly over the past five years, opening 233 new stores from 2006 to 2011. In 2011, Zumiez expanded into the Canadian market with the opening of stores in Toronto and Vancouver areas for a total of five Canadian locations. In addition to store expansion, Zumiez has an opportunity to grow its e-commerce sales. Currently e-commerce represents a small portion of Zumiez’s business, especially for a target age range that is more likely to shop online than some others. E-commerce represented 1.7 percent, 2.5 percent, and 4.7 percent of Zumiez’s sales in fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively.


1. Should Zumiez continue to expand in the United States and Canada or now try to enter other foreign countries? What foreign countries might represent viable markets?
2. Would Zumiez be better off focusing its growth strategy around enhancing its e-tailing venture?
3. Identify an area in the state or country you live in where you would see the potential for opening a Zumiez store. Explain your rationale.