Multichannel Marketing, The Patagonia Way

In some respects, Patagonia marches to the beat of its own drum. The Ventura, Calif.-based marketer of rugged mountain climbing and backpacking apparel marketer adheres to strict product quality, catalog style and lifestyle values, all keys to its raison d’être that it never compromises.

In other respects, Patagonia’s multichannel approach -- including not only catalog, Web and retail, but also wholesale -- represents something of a textbook model of today’s multichannel retail business model. Putting both elements together, two Patagonia executives -- Morlee Griswold and Chris Todd -- delivered a session at this week’s DMA06 Conference in San Francisco on how they compile and evaluate the company’s customer database incorporating the diverse attributes of catalog, search, and affiliate marketing customers and prospects.