While media, user generated content, and technology have shifted anglers’ preferences about shopping for fishing gear online, Wired2fish, a leader in multi-species fishing media, and Omnia Fishing, a technology-based online tackle start-up, have partnered to drive innovation in the sport of fishing. Omnia will provide recommendations and product sourcing for Wired2fish.com, and the two organizations will collaborate on content creation and merchandising.

Always seeking to be a leader in technology and offer unique experiences for their customers, Wired2fish identified a shift in angler preferences to shop for gear online years ago. They learned that anglers were interested in immediate access to the gear they were learning about. As Wired2fish found key retail partnerships to help send anglers to the water more prepared and confident, they recently discovered the start-up eCommerce company Omnia Fishing, another Minnesota-based leader in the fishing industry. With both companies’ headquarters in Minnesota, it was obvious that collaboration to meet both companies’ needs would be seamless and rapid.

Omnia has created a cutting-edge shop-by-lake-concept to help all anglers shop for tackle and gear online based on the waters they fish. Omnia’s approach utilizes machine learning, spatial data, user preferences, lake characteristics, product, and user generated fishing reports to make personalized gear recommendations for every angler. Content and media play a key role in contextualizing product recommendations pre and post purchase to customers based on location.

Through this partnership, Wired2fish again offers its audience a unique experience. Audiences interested in a certain topic can access a personalized product discovery experience at Omnia based on the content they view. This context, combined with Omnia’s product data and thousands of local fishing reports and waterbody attributes, allows them to locate the gear that will work best in their area. Together, Wired2Fish and Omnia will also strategically expand Omnia’s product mix into multi-species to service a wider angling community that shares the same frustration of limited selection, availability, and personalized recommendations to specific bodies of water and preferences.

For speed and accuracy, Omnia distributes nearly all products listed on their site out of their Golden Valley, Minnesota warehouse offering the best possible transaction experience. They also offer a massive library of content to further contextualize the shopping experience post-purchase with tips and recommendations from pros and insiders.

“We’re seeing such tremendous growth in sales, users, and user-generated content in the form of fishing reports,” said Omnia CEO Matt Johnson. “We were looking for a media partner that shared our vision for providing the best and most relevant content based on an angler’s location and preferences to help them select and maximize the value from new purchases used on their lakes.”

“A personalized tackle shopping experience combined with quality content and product validation in fishing reports completes a cycle of helping us at Wired2fish, our brand partners, and the industry grow,” said Todd Hammill, CEO at Wired2fish. “Consumer insights from an understanding of what products work where, what products customers prefer in specific regions, and what messages are landing based on how Omnia makes recommendations by location will be incredibly impactful. This relationship isn’t meant to replace our existing retail partnerships. All our retailers matter immensely to us, but we are always interested in exploring new technologies and partnerships that can enhance our user-experience at Wired2fish.com.”

“We make improvements based on what’s best for our users and expand our platform tools and technology to streamline and optimize relevant fishing content to help anglers shop by lake and stay engaged,” said Johnson.

Omnia shared that it will open a new 30,000 square-foot facility later this year.