the Use Intelligence Gear Real-Time Visibility Throughout the organization High Staff Turnover Capital Constraints Camping’s Cool Gear, Lukewarm Outlook by Martin Vilaboy Store-Level IT Investment Meeting High Customer “Steady, consistent, predictable”: those certainly are terms Expectations Federal & State Taxes Generated that could describe the camping market during the past several by Activity Category, $Billions years. “Flat participation” is another way to look at it. Camping 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 $36.4 Bicycling And it’s hard to see the latter as anything other than negative, or at least worrisome, when considering the massive role Snow SMBsports All Retailers $8.8 Percentage $17.7 of Respondents Trail $11.2 camping sales play in the outdoor specialty sector. Camping-related Paddling $4.8 activities, for example, annually generate almost as much Source: Fishing Gartner Group $4.1 0.5 1 retail gear sales as snow-, trail- and paddle-based recreations all Wildlife viewing $2.7 Influence Hunting $2.2 combined, say figures from Outdoor Industry Association. The Source: OIA federal and state taxes generated by camping are more than double those generated by bicycling, which is the number two Camping, for many, is thought of as a “family activity,” and activity in terms of tax dollars generated. How surveys Winners support Focus the on anecdotal Customer-Centricity assumptions that “camping” is Looking at the sheer numbers of participants, camping ranks Educate largely and empower reliant on families setting up a base next to their cars. behind only hiking, biking and fishing, according to OIA’s most our in-store In a 2005 employees OIA survey, for example, eight out of ten “car campers” 90% recent participation figures, while the annual spending on durable using technology and about two-thirds of those who camped 67% away from goods per camping participant is second only to skiers their Add self-service cars (63 percent) said they go camping with other family 86% customer-facing Technologies among the primary categories of outdoor activities, at about members. We’d venture to guess that a goodly chunk 67% of the to Improve It’s all about our product $440 a year compared to skiers’ $480 a year. mix. If families we build it, found they at America’s campgrounds are what would 81% be nels considered will come. “traditional” families – two parents living together 80% U.S. Outdoor Activities Markets Comparison, 2006Focus on a with more convenient a couple of kids and maybe a dog. 77% 87% 12% customerexperience 64% Participants Gear Retail Category The problem is a shift in some U.S. demographics that’s (000s) Sales ($M) Improved in-store 71% leading security to fewer and fewer traditional families to draw from. 65% Camp-based recreation 23% 12% 45,161 $8,676 69% More According personalized to figures from the U.S. Census and The Brookings Hunting 12,800 $6,886 73% Institution, attention from both the average number of persons per household 47% Fishing 36% 16% 32,900 $6,416 our Employees 58% Bicycle-based recreation 59,837 $6,230 in the U.S. and 0% the percent 20% of family 40% households 60% compared 80% to 100% total U.S. households have been in decline for well more than 71% Trail-based recreation 26% 55,834 $3,340 Retail Winners a decade, with those All declines Other Snow-based recreation 15,587 $3,125 expected to continue into the 5% Paddle-based 51% recreation14% 23,596 $2,668 foreseeable future. Source: Retail Systems Research Source: OIA Then again, maybe camping as a category really hasn’t had 40% 34% a fair chance. For at least the last two decades, after all, the In other words, for most general outdoor stores, camping 61% 53% remains the 33% primary 6% reason why most folks walk through the doors, and with those campers come all manner of addon and impulse 38% sales. 9% Even for the more niche-enthusiast, sport specialty shops, it’s certainly not unusual for hard core Annual Durable Goods Expenditures Per Participant $500 rtant climbers, Not paddlers very important or anglers to visit a campground as part of their play, so if camping is not a good part of your marketing $400 and merchandising strategies, an opportunity likely t Important is being missed. $300 Yet since OIA began tallying participation rates in 1998, charts tracking how many people go camping and how $200 often have been nothing but flat, with virtually no period of sustained growth. $100 Certainly, it’s not hard to understand the powers working against camping’s popularity, such as some recent trends involving $0 “done in a day” adventures, close-to-home pursuits and “outdoors as a gym.” At the same time, some much larger national trend lines aren’t exactly making the outlook any rosier for future participation. Bicycle Source: OIA Water Sports Camping Trail Snowsports 34 | <strong>InsideOutdoor</strong> | <strong>Spring</strong> 2008
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