Patriot Outfitters Overhauls IT To Allow For Expansion

By Bob Johns

August 2013 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

The tactical gear outfitter has gone from 1 to 23 stores in seven years, but its IT systems could not keep up.

Patriot Outfitters is a tactical gear outfitter with 23 locations and multiple e-commerce portals serving military, law enforcement, and outdoor enthusiasts in the western U.S. The company began as blackhawkgear. com, an e-commerce site, in 2000, patriotoutfitters.com in 2004, and opened its first brick-and-mortar location in 2006. However, the company’s homegrown e-commerce platform and Web database were not scaling well. Each of the retail locations is vastly different as each one tries to accommodate the types of missions the nearby military bases handle. For example, Fort Benning does a lot of training, so the local store carries a lot of training gear and items that may need to be turned back in before moving to a permanent station.