From Tackle to Tech: The Omnia Fishing Strategy With Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson is the Co-founder and CEO of Omnia Fishing, an innovative ecommerce platform that personalizes tackle shopping through map-based technology and community engagement. In 2010, he co-founded Contour Innovations, developing the lake mapping platform Insight Genesis, which was acquired by Lowrance in 2014. Matt also co-founded Able Seedhouse and Brewery in Northeast Minneapolis. An avid angler, he has fished globally, from lake trout in Lake Superior's Apostle Islands to yellowtail kingfish in New Zealand.  In this episode… Choosing the right product online can feel overwhelming — especially when selection depends on real-time local conditions. Shoppers want confidence in their purchases, but traditional ecommerce sites rarely offer personalized guidance. How can brands use data and technology to craft intelligent shopping experiences that encourage customer loyalty and keep shoppers returning? Matt Johnson, a technology-focused entrepreneur with a passion for fishing and consumer behavior, offers a deep dive into how his team solved this exact challenge. Matt shares how leveraging spatial data, community-sourced fishing reports, and real-time environmental conditions can create a highly personalized customer journey. By prioritizing the user experience through features like AI-powered recommendations, location-specific data, and a content-to-commerce loop, Matt explains how other brands can think beyond the product to create meaningful, loyalty-driving experiences. In this episode of the Minds of Ecommerce podcast, Raphael Paulin Daigle interviews Matt Johnson, Co-founder and CEO of Omnia Fishing, about creating a tech-powered, customer-centric ecommerce platform. Matt discusses how to scale a data-first MVP, why a subscription model complements the shopping experience, and how mapping tools increase repeat purchase rates.