2009 Directory - Inside Outdoor

Editor’s Letter
Outdoor Odyssey 2010
It might be hard to look past what many expect to be a very tough 2009, but outdoor executives
looking to survive and thrive also would be wise to keep an eye a bit further down
the trail. After all, the year 2010 is right around the next turn, and beyond the usual cultural
movements and fashion trends that define each new decade, there are reasons to believe
the 2010s will ring in with significant shifts in terms of what your customer base looks like
and how those customers search for and purchase products and services.
For starters, business today operates at the global level – like never before. International
stock indices and the various government bailout strategies all moving in unison the
past few months make that grossly apparent. In turn, very few of us operate under purely
domestic-based strategies anymore.
To some degree, it’s often technology that makes the world small enough to attain that
global scale, and in the coming decade, technology only becomes more important. In fact,
it’s reasonable to believe we are on the cusp of a type of technology revolution. One could
argue whether or not the rate of innovation is any greater now than it has been throughout
the history of technological development, but there is no denying that technology is being
adopted in developed countries at rates that far surpass anything we have seen before.
Looking back over the past century or so, for example, we see new technologies, such
as the telephone, automobiles, centralized air conditioning, clothes washers and dryers, and
even electricity traditionally taking 40, 50, 60 years or more to reach 75 percent penetration
of U.S. households.
More recently, the personal computer hit those levels of adoption in about 25 years.
The Internet, VCRs, DVDs and mobile phones, meanwhile, reached 75 percent of homes
in about 15 years. It’s likely even newer innovations, including digital cameras, online video,
text messaging and high-speed Internet, to name a few, get there even quicker.
All the while, a generation of kids and young adults weaned and reared in this age of
rapid technological consumption soon will be the heads of most American households. You
can bet this group of consumers will incorporate new and emerging tools and skills into
every facet of their day-to-day lives and behaviors.
In a recent survey by Accenture, for example, more than half of respondents 18 to 22
years old and two-thirds of respondents 23 to 27 years of age said state-of-the-art technology
is an important consideration in selecting an employer. About three quarters of those
18 to 22 years of age said they have accessed online collaborative tools and online applications
from free public Web sites when those technologies were not available at work or not
meeting their expectation.
Back at home, the make-up of the traditional American household also is in flux. The days
are all but gone when the “typical American family” consisted of a mother, a father and a
few kids -- all of the same race and religion – two cars and a pet. Today, for better or worse,
children are raised in any number of arrangements and situations, and our culture goes to
great lengths to validate them all. This shift is exemplified by the recent election of a bi-racial
president who was raised by a single mother and his grandparents.
It remains to be seen how the transformation of the American household will impact
long-standing traditions such as family vacations, back-to-school and holiday shopping or
alter the basic “household budget.” One likely upshot, however, is the strong possibility that
your “typical customers” start to look a bit different in the future and certainly will have a
different perspective on who they are and how they fit in, as well as what they can do in
the palm of their hands.
Most industry participants, it’s likely, have adjusted strategies to weather the short-term
economic storm. Maybe it’s more productive now to turn some attention to surviving longer-term
transitions.
Hopefully, we at Inside Outdoor can help. In the coming year and through the next
decade we intend to aggressively reinforce our mission to provide outdoor industry executives
with quantifiable research and reports on both emerging issues, such as keeping
up with mobile consumers, next-gen store display, inventory automation and eco-friendly
options, as well as the issues impacting current day-to-day operations, including effective
marketing, employee retention, global e-commerce and maintaining value during a spending
downturn.
When the economy eventually does begin to swing back in a better direction, presumably
before the end of next year, as most commentators suggest, thriving in the ’10s will require
adjusting to a new consumer environment and facing some unfamiliar challenges. At
the same time, history shows us that change, even change for the worse, also represents
huge opportunities for those prepared to seize them.
Maybe we can find them together. — MV
4 | InsideOutdoor
Martin Vilaboy
Editor-in-Chief
martin@bekapublishing.com
Percy Zamora
Art Director
outdoor@bekapublishing.com
Ernest Shiwanov
Editor at Large
ernest@bekapublishing.com
Berge Kaprelian
Group Publisher
berge@bekapublishing.com
Jennifer Vilaboy
Production Director
jen@bekapublishing.com
Suzanne Urash
Ad Creative Designer
suzanne@cre8groupinc.com
Beka Publishing
Berge Kaprelian
President and CEO
Philip Josephson
General Counsel
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Business Accounting
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