Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's are one company running two EDI programs on two different X12 versions. AIMS360 handles both natively, from the 850 through GS1-128 cartons to the invoice, on the same record as your other retailers.
Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's have been the same company since 2017, and most vendor pages stop there. What matters operationally is that the two banners still publish separate EDI guides, on two different X12 versions, with different document sets. If you sell both, plan for two setups, not one.
AIMS360 connects to Bass Pro Shops natively over EDI, as part of the ERP rather than a separate subscription. Purchase orders land in the same order queue as your other retailers, draw on the same style, color and size inventory, and the GS1-128 carton label and the 856 advance ship notice are generated from the same scan that packed the carton. AIMS360 charges no per document or per kilocharacter fees of its own.
The reason this page spends time on the corporate structure is that the structure decides your setup. Bass Pro is a retailer, a boat manufacturer and a resort operator, selling everything from fishing flies to ATVs, and it did not merge its vendor systems into one identity when it bought Cabela's. Understanding which program you are being onboarded to is the difference between one implementation and two. If the answer turns out to be Cabela's, the requirements are set out in full on the Cabela's and Cabela's Canada page.
Founded in 1972 by Johnny Morris in Springfield, Missouri, out of the back of his father's liquor store. Still privately held, and referred to as Great Outdoors Group in SEC and FTC filings and as The Great American Outdoors Group in its own communications.
| Part of the group | What it is, and whether it buys apparel |
|---|---|
| Bass Pro Shops | The primary banner. Destination Outdoor World stores, the Springfield flagship over 500,000 square feet. |
| Cabela's | Acquired 2017, still a live banner and a live merchandising brand with its own EDI guides. Individual stores are converting to the Bass Pro Shops banner. |
| White River Marine Group | Boat manufacturing: TRACKER, RANGER, NITRO, SUN TRACKER, REGENCY, ASCEND, TAHOE, TRITON, MAKO, HATTERAS, HOBIE. Runs its own separate EDI program. |
| Tracker Marine Centers | Boat dealerships. Counted inside the company's larger store figure, but not apparel doors. |
| Big Cedar Lodge and attractions | Resort and conservation properties, including Wonders of Wildlife and Dogwood Canyon. |
On the Cabela's acquisition itself: announced 3 October 2016 at 65.50 dollars a share, repriced in April 2017 to 61.50 dollars, and closed 25 September 2017. Published deal totals range from roughly four to five and a half billion dollars depending on how debt and the separate bank transactions are treated, so the dates and per share prices are the figures worth quoting. The repricing was driven by regulatory difficulty around Cabela's credit card bank rather than by the retail merger.
One correction to older content you may still find: at the 2017 close, Johnny Morris said he intended to leverage the Cabela's brand and no rebranding was planned. That is no longer the position. Cabela's stores are being converted to Bass Pro Shops on a store by store basis, and the shared locator now says plainly that the two are one team. Plan assortments on the assumption that the banner mix keeps shifting.
Same company. Same store locator. Two trading partner setups.
| Bass Pro Shops | Cabela's | |
|---|---|---|
| X12 version | 004010 VICS | 004030 |
| Merchandising documents published | 850, 855, 856, 810, 846 | 850, 855, 856, 810, 846, plus 860 purchase order change |
| Routing | Carrier transport sets: 204, 210, 214, 990 | 753 request for routing instructions, 754 routing instructions |
| What that implies | Bass Pro tenders loads to carriers directly, running a controlled inbound freight program | The classic collect freight pattern: you request a routing, the retailer returns it |
There is a third program on top of that. The vendor portal exposes separate EDI pages for Bass Pro Shops and for White River Marine Group, the boat manufacturing arm. If you supply anything into the marine side, that is its own setup again.
Timing rules are worth a caution. Bass Pro does not publish service levels openly. The only fully public document with explicit timing belongs to Cabela's Retail Canada, and those requirements are covered on the Cabela's Canada section of the sibling page. They are Canada specific. Do not assume they are the US Bass Pro requirements, and get your own in writing at onboarding.
On connectivity, the retailer does not publish its VAN. Both banners are pre-mapped trading partners at the major EDI providers and there is no evidence of a mandated single provider, so connectivity is settled during onboarding. AIMS360 maps the connection to the latest EDI specs Bass Pro issues to the vendor at onboarding. If another page quotes a specific Bass Pro VAN, check it against the spec Bass Pro gives you, because retailers revise their specs and old versions stay online for years.
Here is a genuine asymmetry. Distribution center EDI is split by banner, but dropship appears unified across both. Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's dropship runs through Rithum, formerly CommerceHub and DSCO, whose documentation treats the two banners as a single program. Third party integrators describe that connection as carrying the 850, 856, 810, 870 order status, 846 and 997.
So the answer to how many Bass Pro setups you need depends on which doors you are shipping to. Two banners for bulk into distribution centers, one program for dropship, and the marine side separately again if you supply it.
Bass Pro requires a GS1-128 label, the standard still widely called UCC 128, on all master cases and mixed SKU cases. The figures below are summarized from the 2022 domestic vendor guide by third party compliance sources rather than published openly by Bass Pro, so treat them as the shape of the requirement and confirm against the current guide in the vendor portal before committing a packaging run.
| Requirement | As summarized from the 2022 vendor guides |
|---|---|
| Label stock | 4 by 6 inches, white adhesive, non glossy, waterproof, scannable, not covered by laminate or tape |
| SSCC-18 barcode | 3.06 inches wide by 1.30 inches high, and unique to every single case |
| Placement | Bottom right corner of the short side of the case. If the case ends are narrower than the label, use the long side. Cabela's Canada placement differs. |
| Carton size | Maximum 30 by 22 by 18 inches, minimum 9 by 9 by 6 inches |
| Carton weight | Maximum 40 lb. A HEAVY sticker over 40 lb, a Team Lift sticker over 75 lb |
| Pallets | Maximum 2,500 lb and 84 inches tall. Grade 2 or higher wooden pallets only, plastic pallets not allowed |
| Packing slip | PO number, total master cases, and description, model number, size and color for every SKU plus total quantity |
On penalties, be careful what you believe. Bass Pro's vendor guide is login gated and no chargeback or expense offset fee schedule is published anywhere public. Any page quoting you specific Bass Pro chargeback dollar amounts is guessing. Ask for the current compliance section during onboarding rather than planning against a number you found on the internet.
Bass Pro's own camo buyer's guide maps at least ten camo brands across more than twenty named patterns to specific terrain and season: Mossy Oak Bottomland, Break-Up Infinity, Duck Blind, Shadow Grass and Brush, Realtree Xtra, TrueTimber MC2 Snow and Strata, Kryptek Highlander, Badlands Approach, King's Desert Shadow, Under Armour Ridge Reaper Barren, and more.
For an apparel vendor that is not a merchandising curiosity, it is a multiplication problem. Style times pattern times size times gender, and each combination is a distinct sellable unit with its own UPC that has to be right on the purchase order, the carton, the ASN and the invoice.
Camo pattern behaves like a colorway, which means a jacket in four patterns across six sizes is 24 positions, not four. Style, color and size is native structure in AIMS360 rather than a SKU string.
The guides require each inner case to hold one SKU, with the master case quantity dividing evenly by the inner case quantity. That dictates how a size run is packed, not just picked. See case packs and prepacks.
Buying is anchored to hunting and fishing seasons and to named events, the Spring Fishing Classic, Fall Hunting Classic and Camping Classic. Ask for current dates rather than working from last year's.
Bass Pro describes regional customization as strategy, so the same style can carry different pattern depth by market. Allocation has to be able to express that.
The new vendor route is email, not a web form, and the subject line is not a suggestion.
Prospective vendors send product information, images, company details, a website and a primary contact to the vendor relations address, using a mandatory category specific subject line, for example Prospective Vendor followed by a dash and the category such as Hunting or Fishing. The portal states that any deviation from that format means the information will not be received.
That is an unusually literal gate, and worth respecting exactly. Once you are in, the Bass Pro Shops Vendor Relations Portal handles portal access requests, new SKU entry, the vendor routing request form, reporting access and the vendor guide itself. The guide is login gated, which is why so much published information about this retailer is either second hand or years out of date.
Sportsman's Warehouse is an entirely separate, publicly traded company with its own vendor and EDI program. It has never been part of Bass Pro.
The confusion is understandable, because a deal was signed. Bass Pro's parent agreed to acquire Sportsman's Warehouse in December 2020 at 18 dollars a share, valued at about 785 million dollars, which would have combined 169 Bass Pro and Cabela's stores with 112 Sportsman's Warehouse stores. The two companies terminated the agreement in December 2021 and Great Outdoors Group paid a 55 million dollar termination fee.
What most write ups get wrong is the ending. The FTC never filed a complaint and never sued. After an eleven month investigation the parties voluntarily abandoned the deal in the face of expected opposition, which is what the FTC's own announcement says. The agency's concern was head to head competition between the banners in at least two dozen local markets. If you read that a merger was blocked by the FTC, that is a headline, not the record.
Practically: if you sell both, expect two unrelated vendor relationships, two vendor guides and two sets of routing rules.
The connection is part of AIMS360, not a separate subscription, and AIMS360 charges no per document or per kilocharacter fees of its own. See native EDI.
Bass Pro and Cabela's orders can arrive on different maps and still draw on one available to sell number, which is the point of running them inside the ERP.
GS1-128 label printing is built in, so the carton label, the 856 and the invoice all derive from the same scan rather than three systems.
The packing slip requirement stops being a chore when the matrix is real data. Every UPC ties to a size in a style rather than to a spreadsheet row.
When Bass Pro and another retailer want the same units, allocation rules settle it deliberately rather than by whoever synced last.
A third party warehouse maps to a real location, so the ASN and tracking come from wherever the freight actually left.
What brands ask when a Bass Pro order shows up.
Yes, natively over EDI as part of the ERP rather than a separate subscription. Bass Pro purchase orders land in the same order queue as your other retailers, draw on the same style, color and size inventory, and the GS1-128 carton label and the 856 advance ship notice are generated from the same scan that packed the carton. AIMS360 charges no per document or per kilocharacter fees of its own.
No. They are one company, but they publish separate EDI guides on different X12 versions. Bass Pro Shops guides are on 004010 VICS and Cabela's on 004030, and the document sets differ: the published Cabela's set includes the 860 purchase order change and the 753 and 754 routing pair, while Bass Pro publishes carrier transport sets including the 204, 210, 214 and 990. Expect banner specific setup rather than one map covering both. The Cabela's requirements, including Cabela's Canada, are covered on the Cabela's page.
Yes. The deal was announced on 3 October 2016 at 65.50 dollars per share, revised in April 2017 to 61.50 dollars per share, and closed on 25 September 2017. Published totals vary between roughly four and five and a half billion dollars depending on how debt and the separate bank transactions are counted, so the per share prices and dates are the firmer figures. Cabela's still operates as a banner and as a merchandising brand, though individual Cabela's stores are being converted to Bass Pro Shops.
No. Bass Pro's parent group agreed to acquire Sportsman's Warehouse in December 2020 for 18 dollars per share, a deal valued at about 785 million dollars, and the two companies terminated it in December 2021. Note that the FTC never filed a complaint and never sued. The parties abandoned the deal in the face of expected FTC opposition after an eleven month review, and Great Outdoors Group paid a 55 million dollar termination fee. Sportsman's Warehouse remains a separate publicly traded company with its own vendor and EDI program.
Prospective vendors email product information, images, company details, a website and a primary contact to the Bass Pro vendor relations address. The subject line format is mandatory and category specific, for example Prospective Vendor followed by a dash and the category such as Hunting or Fishing. The vendor portal warns that any deviation from that format means the information will not be received. Existing vendors work through the Bass Pro Shops Vendor Relations Portal for portal access, new SKU entry and routing requests.
A GS1-128 label, the standard still widely called UCC 128, on all master cases and mixed SKU cases. As summarized from the 2022 vendor guides the label is 4 by 6 inches, white, non glossy, waterproof and not covered by laminate or tape, with the SSCC-18 barcode unique to each case. Bass Pro placement is the bottom right corner of the short side of the case. Verify current specifications against the vendor guide in the portal before a packaging run.
As summarized from the 2022 vendor guides, each inner case must contain a single SKU with a scannable UPC, SKU, vendor model number and quantity, and the master case quantity must divide evenly by the inner case quantity, for example 24 into 6 or 48 into 6. Mixed SKU cases require a Mixed SKU Case label in two inch lettering with each SKU in its own inner case. For apparel this is a size run problem, because it dictates how a style, color and size matrix is packed rather than just how it is picked.
Yes, and unlike the distribution center EDI it appears to be unified across both banners. Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's dropship runs through Rithum, formerly CommerceHub and DSCO, whose documentation treats the two banners as one program. Third party integrators describe the connection as handling the 850, 856, 810, 870 order status, 846 and 997.
The shared store locator states 183 retail stores in the US and Canada. Company boilerplate elsewhere says nearly 200, but that larger figure includes Tracker Marine Centers, which are boat dealerships rather than apparel doors. The company does not publish a banner level split, so treat any precise Cabela's store count with caution, particularly as stores convert to the Bass Pro Shops banner.
Not with AIMS360. The EDI is part of the ERP, so the ASN comes from the same system that scanned the cartons and printed the labels. Bass Pro and Cabela's are reachable through the major EDI providers and there is no evidence of a mandated single provider, but a translator sitting beside the ERP has to be told what shipped, and that second copy of the truth is what eventually disagrees with the freight.
Last reviewed 17 August 2026. Bass Pro Shops was founded in 1972 by Johnny Morris in Springfield, Missouri, and the group remains privately held. The Cabela's acquisition was announced 3 October 2016, repriced in April 2017 and closed 25 September 2017. The Sportsman's Warehouse agreement was announced 21 December 2020 and terminated 2 December 2021 with a reported 55 million dollar termination fee, after the parties abandoned it in the face of expected FTC opposition rather than by FTC action. EDI version and document set information reflects the guides published by the two banners as of August 2026. Packaging, labeling and pallet specifications are summarized from the 2022 vendor guides by third party compliance sources rather than published openly by the retailer, and no chargeback fee schedule is published publicly. Retailer requirements change, so confirm current specifics against the Bass Pro Shops Vendor Relations Portal and the vendor guide issued to your account rather than against any summary, including this one.
Bring your Bass Pro program, your camo pattern range and your messiest size run to a demo, and we will walk both banners' documents, the carton labels and how one inventory record serves all of it.
