After working for Ouray Mountain Sports for 13 years, Tricia Eischeid became the business owner. After one month, she had already begun to leave her mark on the company when she introduced online rental services to the 25-year-old business. She chose Booqable as an entry point to achieve this goal, allowing her to further drive the company’s rental presence and confidence to expand its offering.
Ouray Mountain Sports
Ouray Mountain Sports is a sports equipment company based in Ouray, Colorado. It was founded in 1996 by Bill Leo after he took the business over from Ed Carr. He convinced his girlfriend to follow him to the small 900-person town and spent 25 years growing the business and producing record sales numbers. For a long time, he assumed Tricia Eischeid would take over the business, and in November 2021, she did.
Tricia had worked for Ouray Mountain Sports for over 13 years when she took ownership of the business. She knew it inside and out and was the natural successor to Bill. It had traditionally operated rentals throughout her time at the store, offering walk-in customers sports equipment. They could rent harnesses, helmets, ice climbing gear, cross-country skiing gear, sleds, crampons, ice tools, and mountaineering boots.
However, the rental side of the business was not as popular as the retail side. So, she developed a plan to drive the presence of their rentals by investing in an online booking system. Over the past 2 years, this has led to incredible growth in rental customers and given her the confidence to expand the rental offerings of the business. The business is expected to grow in the coming years with continued investment in rentals.
Getting online
With ambitions to add online bookings to Ouray Mountain Sports as quickly as possible, the team began looking for software to assist them. The most significant factors when considering their options were inventory and booking management, accurate reporting, and payment processing. They had to find a solution covering these bases, and Booqable suited them perfectly.
The team could add their inventory easily, set up pricing, and connect with a payment provider. Then, they used Booqable’s included hosted store to showcase their products online and accept bookings, linking to it from their existing website. This has proved successful as customers love how straightforward it is to book and pay for their rentals online at their convenience.
In addition, team members have been able to onboard quickly and save time with accurate tracking of equipment, bookings, stock levels, and payments. They also love that they can easily make adjustments when needed. This has resulted in fewer errors and helped streamline the rental process for both staff and customers.
Crushing it
Since introducing online bookings with Booqable, Ourary Mountain Sports has seen an uplift in bookings and revenue. This has given them the confidence to expand their rental offering and invest in the business’s continued growth. They were already an established presence in their community, which has helped bolster their success.
