Economy and Outdoor activities
“‘I’ll never complain about being too busy again…’ Rep overheard’ as twittered by @canoelover explains a lot about the mood on the floor of the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market this week in Salt Lake City. The recession that has been biting everyone hard for the last year or so is creeping into the outdoor gear market, and it was evident in the mood of the attendees. Unless there is a significant turnaround in the next few months, many of vendors that were selling their wares at the winter market will not be around for the summer market. Quality and innovation are the traits that critical to riding out the economic downturn. I noticed some of the smallest gear makers had the most crowded booths. The commonality running though these small companies (Mystery Ranch, Granite Gear, Western Mountaineering, ect.) were a reputation for quality gear. As evident in a post in the Outdoor Retailer Show Daily Digest, there still is a demand for outdoor gear, but people are going to be more selective, and insist on gear that is going to perform well and last a long time.
Continued commitment to the making of Green Products
Despite the trouble many in the industry are facing, there is still a strong commitment among manufacturers to reducing their impact on the environment. I was very happy to see that the commitment to the environment was not abandoned.
A good example of this commitment is from Nemo Equipment. In the fall of 2009 they will be introducing a tent that uses bamboo poles, and they are currently reusing old tents by making shopping bags from the fabric
Social Media and the Outdoors
Social Media played an interesting role at The Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. Twitter made its debut during the show, and provided a near real-time glimpse into what was happening each day. New and interesting products were Twittered to the demanding public, and the merits of this new gear were debated and hashed out world-wide within moments. The role of Twitter and other Social Media sites in the Outdoor Industry were also a hotly debated topic during the show. The amorphous role that social media plays as a business tool has led many to dub it as fad, or not worthy of their time. There has been much debate as to how the users of these sites do not respond to advertising; therefore there is no money to be made by advertising through social media.
Whether advertising is ever viable on these sites it is important to understand where the real power of social media lies. People have begun to use bloggers as a research tool to find independent opinions about the products they buy. Social Media sites are a natural extension of this, allowing the conversation to extend to readers in near real time. The rules for social media in a business environment are still being written. The only certainty is that is you do not participate; you will have no say.
4 responses so far ↓
1 betsy curtin // Jan 27, 2009 at 3:06 pm
definitely agree – most people were interested in buying high quality products that have a reputation of standing the test of time. i’ve seen that on the recruiting side too…those brands with a strong heritage and quality product are hiring.
loved the twittering at the show – i used it to learn where to go in between meetings. definitely saved some time.
2 Bryon Powell // Jan 27, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Great write up of the show. I signed up for Twitter specifically to use it for the show and intend to keep it around both to build industry contacts and as a tool for my readers. While I’m not on the retail side of the OR industry, I think there are ways to use social media to build a brand. I’ve seen social media help my website grow and look at it as a long-term investment.
3 Toby Guillette // Jan 27, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Thanks for keeping us posted along the way. You certainly leveraged social media in an interesting way and provided us all a unique look into OR this year. It’s exciting to think of where it will go from here!
4 Brent // Apr 8, 2009 at 2:02 pm
There were too many beanie companies at the show. As I was walking through the show I was wondering how some of these small beanie/hat companies think there’s room in the market for them.
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