One of my favorite shoe companies, Dekline, launched their own online store a couple of days ago. They launched it under the URL Tumega.net which will eventually be the online store front for all of the Tum Yeto brands. I don’t know that for sure but I would assume so since they have this page for picking your “Online Stores!”. Also, Tum Yeto has a bunch of ecommerce experience, they own and operate skateboard.com. So, I would think they have the smarts to pull off a nice online presence for the rest of their brands- Foundation, Toy Machine, Pig, Deathbox and Ruckus.

Distribution has always been a problem in skateboarding. Skateboard companies make hundreds , if not thousands of different products ( styles and colors ) each year. There is no way that your local skateboard shop can afford to stock all of those products from each company. If they could afford to do so, they wouldn’t be able to afford a warehouse big enough to house it all. One of the great things that happen that could potentially solve this problem was the internet. Back in the late 90’s there were several companies that started selling online that gave you more choices than your local skate shop. If my memory serves me correctly, some of the first online stores were ccsmailorder.com, bigdeal.com, brothersboards.com, skateboardsales.com and Fusion.com. As you might have guessed, most of those companies are no longer in existence, actually, all but one; CCS. Now, in 2006, just about every skateshop has a online store, but they still don’t have all of the products available that the skate companies make.

So, back to what I was saying about Dekline/Tumega.net. By those guys building a web store and eventually giving consumers (you) a chance to purchase any product they make, directly from them. You no longer will have to search many different local shops and online shops for that one 8.125 deck that you want. You’ll then be able to go directly to the company that manufactures it and purchase directly from them. This is a good thing.

There are very few skateboard manufactures that have an online store. Hopefully, in the near future, all of them will. Maybe even one day, someone will be smart enough to build a website that will show you all of the inventory from all of the skateboard companies and the skateboard, t-shirt, trucks or whatever, will ship direct from the manufacturer. Maybe.

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