Outdoor gear sales are declining, as millennials opt for less expensive, more versatile athletic wear over rugged clothing designed for extreme conditions. The trend remains the same with athletic equipment sales, where versatile products (i.e. mountain bike you can also ride on road) are outselling specialty equipment (i.e. road bikes). The NPD Group reported total outdoor industry sales declined 6% between December ’16 and November ‘17 (to $18.9 billion).
Howie Long-Short: Looking for a positive trend within the outdoor sector? Nearly 1/3 (29%) of all online apparel shoppers bought outdoor gear within the last 12 months, with the average customer spending $178 (+3% YOY). The North Face (VFC, 8% of all buyers), Patagonia (6%) and Columbia (COLM, 3%) are the most popular outdoor retailers within the e-commerce space. Canada Goose (GOOS) and Lands’ End (LE) have also found success online; GOOS consumers increased their spend per purchase 14% YOY, while LE buyers increased their average annual spend 10%. Here’s some more good news for outdoor enthusiasts, Camping World (CWH) is re-opening 69 Gander Outdoors stores. CWH acquired Gander Mountain Company & Overton’s in a May ’17 bankruptcy auction.
Fan Marino: One exception to the trend has been snow industry sales (skis, snowboards, boots, bindings), up 7.8% YOY (to $2 billion) over the first four months of the ski-season. Relatively surprising, considering the historically low snowfall totals across the western U.S.
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