The 2011 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market officially wrapped up on Sunday afternoon and the unaudited numbers were phenomenal. But the best part of the show can’t be summed up in attendance numbers, but in the business that took place, especially for action sports brands that are carving out a larger space in the new channel.
Last summer’s show saw attendance climb 13-18% depending on which category you looked at, and this year’s show saw a significant bump from that lofty platform. The unaudited numbers, which we compared to last year’s unaudited stats as well for an apples to apples comparison, saw the number of stores on hand rise nearly 10%, and the number of buyers, exhibitors, and total attendees all rose by double digits.
While these numbers are certainly impressive, we followed up with Nielsen Vice President, Outdoor Kenji Haroutunian who said “the quality of the show, quality of buyer, and quality of experience aren’t really told in raw data. A deeper dive is necessary to really deliver meaningful analysis.”
The OR Demo was one of the most popular features of the show for many action sports brands
We couldn’t agree more, and over the course of the show we had a chance to dive much deeper with the brands and buyers on hand. Each OR show begins with a product demo in Utah’s surrounding natural playgrounds. This summer’s demo took place on August 3 at Jordanelle Reservoir, boasting nearly 200 booths and a 50% increase in exhibitors for the 2,000 people that turned up.
Skullcandy and Body Glove helped sponsor the event, with Revo, and Xcel providing additional support. Honolua, Von Zipper, and Xcel hosted the Lei’d at the Lake standup paddle race, and SUPzilla was on hand to break the Guinness Record for Largest Stand Up Paddleboard, while Body Glove hosted the beer garden.
The brands we spoke with were super excited for the opportunity to get their product in buyers’ hands outside of the show’s halls and thought that other shows should incorporate similar demos.
“The Open Air demo was amazing,” said HDX Founder Vipe Desai. “The action sports brands brought the party and really helped retailers have a good time while providing amazing activation opportunities.”
“The demo day is a great way to interact with customers, especially for our brand,” says Von Zipper Co-founder Rob Riese. “You can’t demonstrate sunglasses well indoors. We had a lot of new people checking us out.”
Excited buyers migrated to the show the next day, and many brands were stacked with appointments from not only existing accounts, but numerous new ones. Dakine National Sales Manager Chico Bukovansky had 100 appointments on the books as of the first day and added: “this is a really good show for walkins. We’re not pentrated to the fullest in the outdoor category, so we get a lot of new partners here.” On the retail side, Bukovansky said he was seeing most of his larger accounts from action sports like REI and Backcountry, and added that the show is a great opportunity to check out new fabrics from a sourcing perspective.
Perhaps the biggest presence on the show floor form the boardsports side was the sheer volume of SUP vendors, and the most consistently busy booth we saw was Boardworks. When asked how the show was going, Owner Bob Rief said; “Look around-it’s incredibly busy.” He explains that this is becoming a sweet spot for SUP brands as the industry begins to mature. “Categories are starting to emerge in SUP. Now that there are classifications of boards, we can better focus on the needs of particular buyers.” Boardworks is dividing its products and price ranges out by fitness and performance, providing a full array of boards for novices, racers, white water enthusiasts, and fishermen to name just a few categories.
The New Exhibitor Pavillion
Outdoor Retailer also brought back the New Exhibitor Pavilion, which took a hiatus, and the massive tent that sprung up across the street from the Salt Palace housed 150 new brands, with 50 additional new exhibitors sprinkled throughout the show.
For action sports retailers, perhaps the biggest benefit of attendance was checking out brands and accessories that would make great additional revenue streams and contributions to their bottom lines. From new apparel lines, to beverages, to books, and camping gear, OR has something for every retailer.
Stay tuned for an in-depth look at broadening the scope of action sports retail categories in our next issue, and enjoy the pictures from this year’s Summer Market by following the jumps below.
For coverage and photos from day 1 & 2, follow the jump.
TAGS: arbor, billabong, BURTON, columbia, dakine, element, honolua, hurley, kustom, nixon, O'neill World Cup of Surfing, outdoor retailer, patagonia, plan b, quiksilver, rusty, Sector 9, stand up paddle, surfing, teva, von zipper
