OR Blog

Winter Market rising...

I just finished reading 'Crowdsourcing' by Jeff Howe.  It definitely has me thinking about how it applies to the show environment, since our industry gathering is a worthy crowd, by any measure.  When it comes to like-minded passionate enthusiasts for the winter wilderness, there ain't no crowd like ours.

 One thing I'm strongly considering is displaying a special snowmobile in the Backcountry Village area of the show... if you aren't familiar with that zone, it's where nearly all the cool winter hardgoods (skis, split boards, bindings, avy beacons, nordic, etc...) are shown.   I know it's controversial, but I also know that when it comes to avy safety and backcountry wintersports, we are inexorably tied to the sled (sometimes literally!).  Snowmobiles cut track, they move people and gear, and many cool lodges and backcountry destinations across the U.S. utilize them for work and play.  They've gotten a bit quieter I believe (haven't shopped for one), and their users share our deep concern for avalanche safety education. 

What are your thoughts on the subject?  The purpose of the display would be to spur 'crowd' awareness and conversation on one under-spoken connection we have to the motorized world. I'm interested in making it an interactive display, where attendees can voice their thoughts on how Outdoor and Snowmobiling fit and don't fit together on the trail or at the show, and we can report on the results in the post-show wrap up. 

Chime in...?

KH

 

Virtual Design Center - Reloaded

What is a Virtual Event?  Is it, like, a tweetup, or a meetup, a mashup or a web conference, or what?  Can it be helpful to my business or just another distraction from my core business?

UPDATE!

One Day - December 7, 2010 for Live Cast

15 key brands supporting from OIA Eco-Index and Polartec to Bluesign Technologies and AAPN

90 days online and available in archive form

The OR Virtual Design Center focuses on education and latest material developments behind the branded products that are the focus of Outdoor Retailer shows.  This is a fast-moving and changing landscape (seen the price of cotton today?), and staying on top of the myriad technological, logistical and societal developments will help brands cement their leadership status, grow awareness and profits and 'do the right thing' to lessen environmental impact all at the same time.  

The VDC is anchored by a cluster of webinars (see finalized topics HERE) that last one hour each and are spaced out throughout a day.  The topics, panels and experts who are speaking on the issues are leaders in our industry and are full-time focused on creating sustainable options for designs of the future... OIA, AAPN, prAna, Zero-Waste-Alliance, Bluesign Technologies, Textile Exchange, Promostyl, etc... are all, in their own way, pushing the envelope on green design.   There are interactive brand displays ('booths') that feature sponsoring brand presentations with live interaction (on the Live day) and downloadable or viewable collateral available for interested attendees.  There are several ways for a supporting brand to configure their 'booth', including private room sessions, special timed events, and interactive engagement of visiting attendees. 

This interactive education event requires ZERO travel, ZERO housing, ZERO shipping or drayage and ZERO wasted time for both supporting suppliers/sponsors and for attending designer/developers.  Ideally, this online interactive environment will help tee up important business meetings at the OR Shows, and fuel even more value from our live, face-to-face events. 

Who is Attending?  This VDC version will focus on sustainability in the supply chain, and the target audience is the product design/development professional working for brands in outdoor, cycling, health & fitness, action sports and general sporting goods.  Through the reach of Nielsen (who owns over 40 pubs and shows that attract design professionals), this event will be able to draw thousands of working pros from other materials-intensive industries like hospitality, military, industrial, fixturing, general merchandise, etc... so the message of suppliers (and programs like eco-index, bluesign) can reach far beyond the wide world of sports. 

How Much $$?  The technology is expensive, but the platform is very reasonable for sponsors, and free to attendees.  For $2500 (about one 10'x 10' booth space at OR) a supplier/sponsor can easily upload collateral to an interactive brand display, which will then be visited by invited, interested attendees of both the live and archived event (3-month flight).   This interactive environment is flexible and can accomodate image galleries, video spots, quick time movies, pdf downloads, white paper research and messaging (instant and email style).  Higher level sponsors can get extra value from the event too... of course. 

How Do I Get Involved? - If you are a designer or product developer, save the date, register online when the time comes (about 3 wks out from live date), and plan to attend the same way you'd attend a webinar, or several in one day.  If you can't make Dec. 7, then visit the archived show online.  If you are a brand leader, consider supporting and showing off your latest fabric or solution in a cutting edge, dynamic two-way experience online.  Register here for FREE if you are interested.

How Much Work?  For sponsors, The Virtual Design Center is easy to use, much like uploading photos to flickr or having a facebook site for your brand... since design/developer types will be looking for sustainability options in their material choices, best to focus options there.  For attendees it's as easy as registering to attend a Webinar, except you'll get 4 and access to tons of relevant information around sustainability in the supply chain.  This information is helpful not just to designers but to retailers, media, marketers as well as consuming public who want to stay on top of latest trends in product development and sustainable business models.

What will the attendee walk away with? Lots of new concepts, tips, ideas, ways to measure, fabrics and solutions to incorporate in designs immediately.  Materials to tee up business and future design componentry.  Also a sense of who they need to know better come showtime in January. 

Like many live events, attendees have a virtual brief case or show bag that they can drop materials into for review later... paperless of course.  If I were an attending designer, I might take away a link to a keynote presentation, a few intro papers from new suppliers I didn't know about, some special programs from suppliers I did know about, and a coupon for taking advantage of a special offer on business services for my firm.   Oh, and a serious bump in my knowledge about cutting edge 'green' technologies and materials available for products of the future that I will have a hand in designing.

Virtual events can set up and enhance live face to face business, and empower your future customers with information relevant to their work in building more sustainable products that consumers want and that will be the hallmark of the active outdoor industry.   Doing events online in itself advances business without the cost of travel, or the environmental impact. 

What do you think?

Kenji

 

 

 

 

And the Show goes on

Well the whirlwind of the OR Summer show 2010 has subsided, except for those of you road-tripping on to points N/S/E/W.  I didn't find any road trippers from the South, but certainly from every other direction and I bet there were a few willing to take highway and byway to SLC last week.
I know it's important to say, so I'll say it now that attendance at the show was up in all measured categories of buyers, stores, exhibitors, media, advocacy groups and overall attendance.  This bucks the trend in the trade show industry for sure... But is that really important, or just a sound byte for the data-starved b2b media market?   Is the show, after all, a quality play, or quantity play?  Is it a numbers game at the end of it all?

I'll let you answer that... likely a different answer depending on what your goals were going into the show.  Those numbers are important enough that I will be engaged in show stat analysis like never before in the next month (while planning Winter 11) to test Nielsen's new audience development technology called Alterian (who comes up with these names anyway?).  Store demographics, geographic profiles, attendance history patterns, success/failure with prospecting, and detailed survey results will all be part of the wrap up effort on the show.  As video, images, stories, reviews and commentary on the show stream onto YouTube/Facebook/Wordpress/Blogger/Twitter/LinkedIn over the coming weeks, can we really even say the show is over?

So instead of a post-mortem on SM10, I'll post up some of the highlights in pic form (pictures worth 1000 words each), and keep adding to it as the pieces of the overall puzzle flow into the public domain.

Kayak Polo at OAD!

Laird Hamilton at OAD mixing it up with the kayaks and canoes

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar (in cap), White House Lead Counsel on Environment Nancy Sutley along with the entourage...

Wayne Gregory!   
 
 

Park n' Pedal program providing propulsion to purveyors who paddle and peddle proactively, previewing products for procurement

  

the OR 40+ Legacy Partner ... what does it mean?

At the upcoming Summer Market show, you are going to see something new.... well, actually a lot of things new, so don't let that 'same airport, same cab, same hotel, same street walk, same restaurant' thing fool you.  But ONE of the cool things you'll see is a new program rollout called '40+ Legacy Partners'. Is that a Subaru ad, or what?

No, not Subaru.

At this OR Summer we are honoring those brands who have been with us for 40 shows or more, a landmark that only 54 companies can claim rights to.  The highest possible number of OR shows is 42.  Sorry if you're at 39 shows, but we had to make the cutoff somewhere and you can look forward to next year.  If your brand is in the 40+, that means you have been exhibiting at OR since a time when feathered hair and parachute pants were de rigeur. 

  
You'll see floor graphics in front of their booths, and highlights in the listings in the show directory and floorplan.  We'll be honoring this group that represents today less than 5% of the 1030 brands on the show floor of OR Summer... but represents the core business that, according to the most recent OIA market research, is surging in Q1 2010 sales and participation among consumers.  

These companies represent the origins of OR from the Reno days and further back, and all still serve the core active outdoor recreation market as we know it today.  Please feel free to Hoist something frosty in honor of the following brands:

3M

5.10 Five Ten Footwear

Adventure 16

Adventure Medical Kits Inc

Alpenbooks

Alpineaire & Richmoor/TyRy

Aventura Clothing/Sportif USA

Backpacker Magazine Active Interest Medi

Black Diamond Equipment

Cascade Designs Mountain Safety Research

Chums/Beyond Coastal

Columbia Sportswear Co

Crazy Creek Products Inc

Eagle Creek

EK EKcessories

Ellington Handbags

Fox River Mills Inc

Grabber Performance

Gramicci

Granite Gear

Gregory Mountain Products/Bianchi Intl

Heat Factory Inc

Hi-Tec Sports Usa, Inc

Jansport

Kelty

Kenyon Consumer Products Leki

Liberty Mountain Lowa Boots

Mammut Sports Group / Climb High

Marmot Mountain LLC

Merrell

Metolius Mountain Products

Montrail Inc

Mountaineers Books, The

Mountainsmith

Ojai Intl

Osprey Packs

Patagonia

Petzl

Pigeon Mountain Ind Inc

Polartec, LLC

Royal Robbins Phoenix Footwear Groupinc

Sierra Designs

Suunto

Tecnica

Terramar Sports Inc

Teva

The North Face

Thorlo

Timberland Company

Vasque

Western Mountaineering

Wigwam Mills

WL Gore & Associates

Woolrich

Considering our collective obsession with shiny and new, it's worth taking pause to consider the tried and true.  The concept of character gained through age and experience ('Sabi ga tsuiteru' in Japanese) comes to life when you visit with some of the above original brands of OR.  They are the survivors, the original gangsters of outdoor gear. 

KH

Are You Listening? ROI for Social Media

Ever feel like you are sending out the messages via your facebook or twitter accounts, but aren't getting a clear response?  Reminds one of print ads and other hard to measure promotional media (er, say Trade Shows, for instance). 

Success in Social Media means emphasizing the S.... SOCIAL.  How many of you step into a party and jump on a table to start shouting your brand story to the (astonished) crowd?  How many of you enter that same party and sit down interviewing people and taking notes feverishly?  Two wildly different approaches to the party... and equally different results from it.  Social and Listening are almost synonymous, or at least the trend positively together ("that guy is antisocial!" = "that guy didn't hear a word I said!").

As you implement or contemplate your Social Media strategy, how you process the information coming back to you will determine how hard you are listening to customers. 

Interested to hear more?  Check out this podcast I discovered... good reminder for those of you that do, and definite spur to action for those that want to.

http://www.closingbigger.net/2009/10/social-media-listening-strategy/

What's that you say?

KH

OR Winter 2010; a retrospective PLUS HAITI HELP

Well the 21st annual Outdoor Retailer Winter Market is now a wrap.  I'm afraid I will never get around to thanking all the dozens, no HUNDREDS of people who contributed to the success of the little show that could... btw there are great links below for HAITI help and to video and stories on OR Winter 2010 if you want to skip over my nostalgic storytelling...

My first visit to a Winter show was when I made store manager for Adventure 16; I had just gotten my ears wet for a few months running a little backpacking shop in the San Fernando Valley when I was whisked off to Las Vegas for the SIA show, where there was a small representation, in a back, dank ballroom, of outdoor brands we needed to see.  The ski show was a glam-fest, which wasn't that odd to me given my L.A. roots (my dad attended Hollywood High School, even).   It was clear, even then, that our little market was an afterthought to the burgeoning fur-lined high heel fashion show going on in the main hall. 

So fast forward to last week, and the Winter Market born in 1989 has grown up into an electric, thriving beehive of commerce on it's own, celebrating and gathering brands and dealers selling outdoor gear for real use in the natural environment, both on and off the resort.  At the 2010 version of OR Winter, Jeremy Jones' POW (Protect Our Winters), Transworld Business, Trew and Venture Snowboards presence on the show floor for the first time showed a new inclusive atmosphere that joins resort and backcountry focused businesses together, really for the first time.  

More images, stories and video from the show will be posted up as the show shrinks in the rear view mirror, so feel free to chime in under 'comments' to guide fellow readers of this blog to other legit content... beware spammers and flamers, got my finger on the delete button just for you. 

Check out the following links to see video spots and hear about the show from different viewpoints...

http://www.outdoorretailer.com/winter_market/show/livefromor (featuring  Timmy O'Neill MC!)

http://www.outdoorretailer.com/winter_market/events_seminars/projector

http://business.transworld.net/30522/features/outdoor-retailer-2010-photo-and-video-gallery/

http://www.apparelnews.net/news/tradeshows/012910-Mood-Upbeat-at-Outdoor-Retailer/page2

HAITI SUPPORT UPDATE - see below for several different industry initiatives to choose from to support efforts on the ground in Haiti

 

1-

 Exhibitors are invited to donate show products - logistics will be provided by Terramar, Sierra Trading Post & Eric Larsen (THANKS for your strong efforts at show to pull this together!)

Logistics will work like this:

1. At the end of the show, participating vendors will package and ship their relevant show product they are donating to:

Sierra Trading Post

5121 Campstool Road

Cheyenne,

Wyoming

82007

ALL PACKAGES MUST BE MARKED: ROBIN JAHNKE /

HAITI

RELIEF

2. Product must arrive at Sierra Trading Post's warehouse within 10 days following the show

(that would be by FEBRUARY 8, 2010)

3. All products must be labeled HAITI RELIEF.

4. Sierra Trading Post will ship to

Haiti

via the Red Cross or another reputable relief agency.

2-

Doctors United For Haiti - option for gear donations not flowing through Port-Au-Prince

Paul Fish, of Mountain Gear, has recommended this outfit to get critical gear on the ground going around the main squeeze zone of Port au Prince, using private transport delivering straight to doctors on the ground in Haiti.  There is a detailed list of gear needs evident on the following sites:

http://www.dufh.org/

http://media-newswire.com/release_1111153.html

Coordinate gear for this approach via;

Paul Fish
Mountain Gear, Inc

6021 E Mansfield Ave

Spokane Valley,

WA

99212

Phone 509.242.4545

3-

Outdoor Industry Association

Working with AmeriCares (http://www.americares.org/), the OIA is calling on members to dig deep to support those areas devastated by earthquake in Haiti.
AmeriCares has disaster workers on scene and is planning immediate relief flights and sea shipments from their headquarters in

Connecticut.

. Their immediate product needs are:

Medical Supplies                       First Aid Kits             Bandages and Soaps
Face Masks – Medical     Water Purification     Headlamps
Tarps                                          Work Gloves            Hydration Containers

To donate this urgently needed product/equipment contact: Randy Weiss at AmeriCares at (203) 658-9527 or [email protected]. All donations will be delivered by air and sea directly to the region by AmeriCares.

 

If you are a gearhead and want to see the latest posts on gear reviews from the show, check these links out... more to come.

http://www.utahoutside.com/

http://gearjunkie.com/outdoor-retailer-show-products-2010

http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_14238681

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-gear25-2010jan25,0,1668279.story

 

KH

Update for Haiti and OR Winter 2010

Well like most of you we have been busy little beavers here at OR central lining up the hundreds of little details that make a great show go off.  With the end of year, planning for next, holidays and oh by the way a pretty big show approaching, it's been a whirlwind, for sure.  Sounds good, you say, but where's the beef?  What is happening this month in SLC? 

Plenty, to put it mildly.  Where do I start? 

UPDATE- Haiti needs our help.  OIA is recommending working through http://www.americares.org to funnel contributions, especially of gear that will be necessary in urban rescue and portable living arrangements.  This is the time to shine as an industry for outdoor recreation.   Other groups with people and programs on the ground or very soon will... http://www.medicinesglobal.org , or super easy text the word 'Haiti' to 90999 to put $10 to the American Red Cross. 

The All Mountain Demo would be a proper place to start.  Get to Snowbasin on Wednesday the 20th of Jan and treat yourself to an all-mountain cornucopia of latest gear to test on both lift-served, groomed nordic and off-piste terrain.  All the major brands will be there and two new events will highlight the expanded scope of OR Winter; the Transworld Business Retailer Rumble (pitting dealers against their vendors in a fun downhill run, whether sliding sideways or two-plankin'), and the Nordic Challenge, which will be more treasure hunt/orienteering fun on the x-country gear that will be available.  Fantastic prizes (including hotel rooms at next winter show!) abound... so step on up. 

At the show in town, I'll only bore you with the nitty gritty details, some of which can be plucked from the online event schedule.  so suffice to say there will be new features to partake of, new intelligence to absorb, new technology to understand and implement, new best practices to fold into your already strong business acumen.  There are some key avenues to explore as you enter the SPCC and Salt Lake in a few weeks... all at your fingertips at the show and in the weeks that follow...

The COMMUNITY - This Winter Market opens the season with not just a peek at the products and innovation that the brands bring to OR each January, but a never before seen gathering of powerful brands alongside the athletes, advocacy groups and media players that round out the entire winter outdoor rec business. New media players like Transworld, New brands like Venture Snowboards (+150 others), and senior brands like Columbia Sportswear returning to the show floor are just a few community highlights you'll see later this month in SLC. 

The EDUCATION - a timely and powerful lineup of seminars, panel discussions and presentations will manifest at OR Winter, powered by the Outdoor Industry Association as well as the OR special event team.  Social Media is a big topic these days, specifically how successful businesses are using it to fuel sales and contact with customers.  Late breaking, a panel of journalists and media experts from the industry will vet the 'death of media... long live (new)Media!' on day 3 in the morning.  The full lineup of presentations can be seen here.

The NETWORKING - Starting with the AMD Bash at Snowbasin (where the PRIZES are awarded!) and running continuously through the show are opportunities to network with peers from around the world, as well as with leaders of brands that will make your registers ring next year and beyond.  Athletes and advocacy groups can bring depth and purpose to any events you are currently hosting, and bring fresh ideas and influence to your community.  Your customers need to know who and why, not just where and what they need to recreate with!  Focus your networking intent on the ZONES at show, including the Climbing Zone, the Endurance Zone, the Design Center, the Backcountry Village... all of these areas are owned by the community of orgs and businesses who consider it their home, offering a great meetup (or tweetup) spot to kick off new relationships or solidify current partnerships... or just cool your heels or get a little stretch in on a rock wall or treadmill (while testing something cool and new).

The CULTURE -  SEE NOTE FOR HAITI ABOVE! This industry is all about facing adversity with confidence and clear thinking... let's show the other industries what we can make happen on the ground, and do our part. 

 From the TNF Masters of Snowboarding Comp to the Transworld Shop Challenge at AMD to the Backcountry Village events and the OR All Star Industry Jam, the OR Winter show reveals the soul of the marketplace... we do business, we do it well, but we know how to bring a city to life and play as hard as we work.  That ethic rests at the center of our lives, personal and professional.  It comes to life in the creativity that is flowing all around the OR show, day and night, for nearly a full week.  This Winter show will unveil new partnerships and creative treatments on and off the show floor in the booths, in the Zones as well as in the bars, restaurants and clubs. 

UPDATE- Haiti needs our help.  OIA is recommending working through http://www.americares.org to funnel contributions, especially of gear that will be necessary in urban rescue and portable living arrangements.  This is the time to shine as an industry for outdoor recreation. 

It's a great place to feel our culture, but it's a great place to expand on that culture, and be more inclusive as we enter 2010.  Let's invite everyone to play as we do, to simply start.  No attitude to contend with, no judgement, just have fun on the snow, ice, trails that are flat or vert or watery... just get out there, and get some gear to make it even more fun. 

This should be the theme of Outdoor in 2010; Inclusivity.  And this is what you'll get an eyeful of at OR Winter. 

The show, is it really over?

The thought has been running through my head for the past 3 weeks, going on 4... why haven't I done my own show synopsis?  Why haven't I blogged the living daylights out of the incredible experiences of people, product and politics that whirled incessantly for 5 days (including the Open Air Demo) in SLC last month?  What is my problem?

Only here, on my last day of vacation, do I realize the hard truth.  Just because my team has done it's post-con meeting, videos finalized/posted, and thank you's have been sent, and the marketing and finance teams have moved on to FFR and Winter Market '10 (2010!  Say what?), doesn't mean the show is actually over.  The show, you see, is more than just an event gathering thousands of business people together for a few days of hand-shaking and baby kissing.  It is different things for different people, but it serves a 'process purpose' for nearly everyone.  Launching, Re-inventing, Culminating, Revealing, Hiring, Downsizing, Strategizing, Co-operating, Finalizing, Initiating, Streamlining, Resource directing, Inspiration-taking, Supporting, Solidifying, .... these are all processes that are understood as landmark moments in time, defining characteristics of some action that a company, or an individual, or an association of individuals, is taking.  Those actions keeps interest high in the brand, offering a glimpse into the inner workings and most of all affirming that there ARE inner workings churning out innovation; change agent companies throughout the industry emanate this at the show.  Those are the brands I want to be affiliated with...as a consumer, one-time retailer and full-time enthusiast.  I bet you do too.

It's why we're collectively becoming known as a 'Vibrant' or 'Energetic' (I'm stopping short of 'hip') industry.  It's visible at the show, but it's like a Humpback Whale surfacing for air... the whale doesn't cease to exist when it dives deep for some Krill taking... it simply goes under the surface for a few minutes.  This is how I see the show... surfacing twice a year, but rising and diving and being fully realized only months after the actual event takes place.  For stuff still unfolding into our awareness, check out the live bits still feeding into our facebook page and other 'Live From' treatments at the show.  

So really, in my life anyway, the show is still going on.  The news bits, the conversations, the product reviews, the post-show commentary in the blogosphere and in print, is all still rolling.  Orders are being placed from buyers who saw whom and what they needed for Holiday and spring shipments, adjustments to prior orders written in June after seeing the entire market play out in real time at the show.  Technology introduced at the show (in communications, marketing, POP, advertising, and training) is being implemented daily.  Sponsorship agreements for events and athletes are now coming to fruition and those devilish details are getting hammered out... details whose seeds took root at OR Summer 09. 

So not only must the show go on, it must be seen more organically... over time, and changing, crystallizing, becoming more clear as that time passes.  This may help to explain the post show 'daze' most of us experience the week after.... 

KH

Retailers succeeding in the midst of economic turmoil

The news these days has more exclamation points per page than at any time I can remember... I used to consider it annoying, but realize that in critical times, all business-minded people are paying closer attention to the daily ebb and flow of the market than before; the press knows it, and therefore play to that increased attention by putting more 'pop' into headlines.  Yesterday the stock market surged on an internal comment that Citi CEO Pandit made about being in the black.... are we a reactive bunch or what? Like watching a good horror flick, our collective hands are clasped over our eyes, but peeking through to bear witness to the latest corporate thrashing of share value and employee head count.  

It's important not to panic in these times, or buy into the 'sky is falling' sentiment.  Most of us in Outdoor know how to face adversity, in the market just like on the mountain.  There is a lot of information out there, and resources to utilize in reacting appropriately to the forces at work in the outdoor market.

Here, then, is one of several balancing reports that show how retailers have made successful progress even during tough times.  Our recent survey of retailers (over 1500 respondents) and even the online poll we are tracking now (bottom right, run of site on outdoorretailer.com) shows a confident yet cautious approach to running the business that betrays the 'cataclysm' portrayed in the mainstream business media. From Retail Info Systems Newsletter.

The OIA recently produced several very interesting articles and webinars, and are continuing their quest to serve up more meaningful business education at the show, but also directly via their website.  A renewed spirit of cooperation was evident in last week's string of meetings to come up with new ideas for the show and association to raise the ROI of attendees and vendors at the OR shows.  As the pace of change in business quickens, communication within and throughout the various stakeholders in Outdoor will be the key to outperforming the economy and our own expectations.

KH

Return to Beijing for ISPO China

My second time to Beijing in so many years felt more familiar than was reasonable... I was in a new role this time (presenter), spent an unplanned night in SF, and had an unusually rough patch getting into country this time.  In customs check, they actually took out my books, asked me about them, and gave them quite the gander before letting me through ('Sex, Time and Power and The Kite Runner, if you must know).  By far the most 'communist' treatment I've personally had, but it was subtle, even friendly, like he really just wanted to know what a guy like me was reading. 
Then again, there was that lady at the Forbidden City last year... hm, better come to Beijing (and ISPO China) and have your own communism moment!  Beijing is a beautiful city, in a very bustling upheaval change center kind of way.  That mix of ancient dust and construction cranes and emergency mobile tech vehicles alongside people cycling on faded, wobbly bikes.  And it just got ranked by some high-profile magazine as the 6th Laziest city in China!  That bodes well for the outdoor specialty scene...

The Chinese Outdoor Retailing Conference took place on the last day of ISPO China, Saturday Feb. 21, 2009, and was sponsored by Gore  and ISPO China.  It started with some (what seemed to be) pretty ho-hum growth figures from the industry group doing the market research.  The jyst I got was that sales were up and margins, profitability were up but not much growth in the number of independent retailers.  Department Stores, in the north at least, have the lions share of the business at this stage.  Nevertheless, a spirited presentation by Jiang, President of Sanfo Outdoor (one of the top specialty retailers in China), fired up the crowd (160 or so) and is rumored to be opening 3 stores in 2009, making the total 17 in China for Sanfo.  I, on the other hand, bored them slightly in English (thankfully Isabel Yu was translating) about e-commerce and how some specialty retailers use the internet here in the US. 

They seemed appreciative, anyway. 

How was the ISPO China show, you ask?  Well it was very well attended (well above last year), but the exhibitor count was not in step with the dealers.  The Chinese companies like Black Yak and Ozark were showing STRONG, and Vasque, Teva, and Marmot were there with new or stronger presentations, with traffic in lockstep. 
Patagonia had a little pop at the CORA booth, where a few other US brands dipped their toe in.  Seems the economy does affect Outdoor after all.  It's too bad, because when it really goes off there, I suspect it's going to be the 'next coming' for our industry.  Those of you familiar with the Korean and Japanese outdoor industry history, know what I'm talking about?  Everyone seems to be guessing the right timing.

The show drew very well from the north and I met many from Shanghai and Hong Kong too.  Hopefully next year more domestic brands (which were represented in the aisles) will be there to support the show and their business relationships in the East.  We'll try to make it easier too, if and however we can help.

The presence of many good ski brands, as well as machinery for tuning and even Doppelmayr, the ski lift maker, made sense in the northern  half of China (where Beijing is), where there are now 200 ski areas in all of China.  There was an entirely separate education track riffing on a myriad of topics related to operation of ski areas/resorts.  Early days, and it'll be fun to watch that go off.  Rip Curl apparently sponsored a rail jam event the day before the show, which I missed with my rain-delayed flights here in the US.  Too bad, last year's was fun.

Given the world economic upheaval, ISPO China 2009 felt very much reflective of the state of the industry here; cautiously optimistic that the people will return to the basics of life (as in past recessions), and understand once again that keeping one foot on the trail and one paddle in the water is a fun, healthy and prudent way to spend (one's limited) time and money.