What you’ll read: Take a journey with us and discover how Camping World’s digital presence has evolved overtime.
Back in 1956, a young man took out a loan, opened up a shop on his father’s campground near Bowling Green, Kentucky, and began selling camping supplies and RV equipment to his father’s patrons.
This small business would ultimately become a publicly traded company that rakes in nearly $4.8 billion in annual revenues.
We’re talking about Camping World: The world’s largest supplier of RV parts and supplies.
Much of Camping World’s success is due to the company’s ability to create a strong digital presence, specifically through its website. Here, we’ll take a look at how Camping World’s website has evolved, from the early days of ecommerce to today.
Let’s start all the way back in 1998.
CampingWorld.com in 1998
The first version of Camping World’s website is pretty impressive.
The organized structure and clean presentation is leaps ahead of what many other retailers were doing at the time.
Here, the team offers navigational options without adding clutter to the page. The dropdown menu, coupled with clear headers and footers, allow site visitors to easily navigate the site.
We were especially impressed by their focus on localization. More than just finding “the store nearest you,” Camping World provides specific information about their various locales — planting seeds for future location-based efforts from the company.
While some of the site copy feels dated Camping World added value by making their branded magazine available in digital format — along with a frequently-updated news and announcement section of their site.
The site also offered a number of freebies, such as desktop wallpapers and screensavers to keep their brand top-of-mind.
As for ecommerce, CampingWorld.com was ahead of the curve.
Though they weren’t able to offer their entire catalog to online shoppers, they did offer over 2,000 products and the ability to checkout as a guest. ustomers could also order a physical catalog through the website and place orders via fax, email, or telephone.
All in all, Camping World’s original website set a pretty high bar for the team to follow up on.
CampingWorld.com in 2004
By 2004, Camping World’s website had taken on a more product-centered approach.
Nearly everything on the homepage points the visitor to a specific product, department, promotion, or other sales-related campaign. Even the search features — which are now more prominent — focus more on products than content.
That said, the site contains informational and helpful content — even if you have to dig a bit to find it.
Below, we can see the a microsite, which provided in-depth guidance to new customers.
The team also added a number of interactive and social aspects to their website. Customers could use the site’s forums to discuss a variety of RV-related topics and connect with potential buyers/sellers directly through their partner site, RVSearch.com.
Again, ecommerce took center stage on Camping World’s website. Check out their intuitive product catalog sections:
These are followed by the site’s product pages, which are just as organized and comprehensive.
In addition to product, customers also get:
- Multiple product recommendations
- Product variation options
- Buyer-friendly purchasing options
Those who wish to make offline purchases can also download the store’s digital catalog — and can easily place orders via phone.
On that note, it’s clear that Camping World understood the importance of diving into the digital realm — but is still focused o n catering to the needs of their entire audience.
CampingWorld.com in 2012
By 2012, Camping World’s website became more focused.
The homepage provides a straightforward user experience; with a quick glance, visitors will know exactly where to go to:
- Purchase RV and camping equipment
- Access informative and educational RV-related content
- Start the process of buying or selling an RV
The drop-down menu makes navigating even more simple and intuitive:
The site’s “RV Center” also provides a ton of helpful content, in a variety of interactive, multimedia formats.
While ecommerce now shares the stage with content,, it’s still a major part of Camping World’s overall website.
Much like previous versions of the site, the product category and product pages are organized and informative. In fact, Camping World now uses tabs to pack information into their product pages without adding clutter.
Across the board, Camping World’s website continues to deliver a cohesive and comprehensive digital experience.
CampingWorld.com in 2017
Camping World maintains this conservative approach in 2017, with a relatively tame landing page to get visitors started.
Visitors can easily start doing what they came on-site to do — whether it’s buy camping gear, list their RV for sale, or check out some outdoors-themed content.
Note that you can also navigate between each section with ease after clicking away from the homepage:
Regarding on-site content and experiences, Camping World again offers a cent ral hub of information (dubbed the “Media Room”).
That said, this content isn’t exactly easy to find once you’ve left the homepage.
In its place, is ecommerce-related content — which has taken on a more modern appearance.
Most notably, product category pages are now more microsite-like, with department specific information and other content being presented as appropriate. The product pages, as expected, continue to deliver need-to-know info to enable customers to make the right buying decisions.
Let’s see where they go from here…
CampingWorld.com Today
Today, Camping World’s website is once more focused on ecommerce.
The modern appearance remains — with minimal thematic changes occurring over the past five or so years.
Content is presented in a much more practical manner on Campingworld.com today. For the most part, each section of the site includes in-depth multimedia content to further the visitors’ knowledge of RVs and the outdoors.
However, while the blog is still regularly updated, it’s still a bit tucked away — especially considering how much value it delivers to the audience.
Product pages are pretty standard, but don’t offer much more than previous iterations of the site.
Still, the navigability and presentation of product category pages and the like make it easy for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for.
Overall, Camping World’s digital team has stuck to their guns as they’ve grown their website over the years.
While many of the sites we’ve discussed have undergone facelift after facelift since their inception, Camping World’s site has remained relatively unchanged. Sure, there have been minor tweaks and changes, but the overall essence of the site has been consistent since the beginning.
Overall, the team knows what works — and they know how to make it work best for their customers. It’s no wonder, then, that Camping World continues to reign as the world’s largest supplier of RV and camping equipment.