John Nunn, owner of online and retail tack store Bit Of Britain, has sold the business and its sister website TackOfTheDay.com to BrandNexity, an e-commerce consulting and services company.

Nunn, who’d trained race horses for 15 years, bought the mobile tack store, which served the horse racing community, in 1991 and began catering more to eventers.

He spent 12 years traveling to local events and eventually opened a retail store in Oxford, Pennsylvania, and he started Nunn Finer, which specializes in quality leather tack, in 1993. Bit Of Britain has been a sponsor of the U.S. Eventing Association for more than 20 years.

Nunn said retail sales have been slow, and the business has struggled to stand out from the pack on the internet.

“I’ve had a good ride with Bit Of Britain, and it was time to change my focus and move over to spend more time with Nunn Finer,” he said. “It’s come down to the fact that retail sales aren’t what they used to be. Even the walk-in trade has diminished down to a bare crawl. The website, if you’re not buying Google ad words and spending a lot of money to keep your SEO up, you just fall off the face of the internet. Unfortunately, the eventing community wasn’t large enough to support the expense it incurred. It’s just so expensive to try to keep in front of people. I’ve done it for 30 years. I still own Nunn Finer and will continue to be at the helm of that and grow the wholesale company and provide really great products.

“[Nunn Finer is] a small sponsor for the USEA, and that may grow in time,” he added. “2019 isn’t what 2015 was, and 2015 isn’t what 2010 was, and it was time for me to understand that. I come from a little bit of old school and don’t have the capabilities or knowledge to continue to keep it growing, and the people that have purchased it are internet-savvy web people that have owned other equestrian retail web-based companies before.”

Both Bit Of Britain and TackOfTheDay.com will come under BrandNexity’s EquiShopper Network, which launches in fall 2019. Christine Duggan, president and CEO, was the founder and owner of EquestrianCollections.com, and Russell Wollam, vice president and COO, brings experience in equestrian e-commerce.

Nunn, who’s an eventer himself, isn’t sure what the future holds, but he’ll still be involved in the sport.

“Nunn Finer will probably expand in a number of different ways,” he said. “There’s so much out there right now. I’m working with a company on some CBD oil supplements. It will be interesting to see where it goes. I just don’t know yet.”