retailer survey
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retailer survey
S N E W S
®
O U T D O O R
2 0 0 7
RETAILER SURVEY RETAILERS WEIGH IN ON 2007’S WINNERS AND LOSERS. Welcome to the 2007 SNEWS® Outdoor Retailer Survey summary, where outdoor specialty retailers get to speak their minds and offer industry observations and commentary on what is great, good, so-so or desperately needs improvement. As we do each year, these two pages in GearTrends® are only a summary. To view the full survey—complete with expanded and detailed analysis of each category result—you’ll need to be a SNEWS® subscriber. Subscribers can access it at www.snewsnet.com/surveys. As always, there’s a lot of information packed into both this summary and the full survey results on SNEWS®, offering the industry plenty to digest, discuss, ponder and also view with pride. Keep in mind that although SNEWS® sends the questionnaire to hundreds of outdoor specialty retailers all over the country, this survey is by no means scientific in its approach. We certainly do believe the results are quite representative of the outdoor specialty retail market as a whole, and those who participate in the survey are consistent from year-to-year, so comparing answers from past surveys presents a useful picture of trends, market conditions and retailer moods. The survey was available for retailers to fill out online from Oct. 8 to Nov. 30. Those completing the surveys represent approximately $3 billion in outdoor specialty sales. At no time do we include sporting goods chains, discounters, department stores or big boxes in our surveys. The majority of respondents represent businesses with three or fewer storefronts. Results are representative of the U.S. market in 2007. Finally, while we regularly receive some truly tantalizing offers from those who want to know which retailer said what, we never disclose who responded to the surveys since that is the promise we make our retailers for their honest responses. One final point of importance: SNEWS® only poses the questions and does not predispose retailer answers by providing a list of choices. For a summary look at some of the cheers and jeers from retailers this year, simply read on. »»»
WHO DO YOU RATE AS THE “BEST” SUPPLIER TO DO BUSINESS WITH? Patagonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.4% Northwest River Supplies . . . . . . 12% Cascade Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . 10% Werner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9% The North Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Mountain Hardwear . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Johnson Outdoors . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Aquabound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Kokatat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% *Tied companies are listed randomly and all are considered statistically equal in terms of ranking.
Also receiving multiple votes were: Black Diamond, Carhartt, Darn Tough, Deuter, 72
»OUTDOOR »WINTER 2008
Hobie, Marmot, Osprey Packs, Outdoor Research, Sea To Summit and Vasque. With a record number of retailers responding to the survey this year, we again saw no dominant player and a wider spread of best company nominations with no fewer than 38 companies getting at least one vote. Patagonia continues to own the top spot as a best supplier to do business with, but it only hangs on by a thread with its percentage dipping slightly over last year. Cascade Designs keeps gunning for the No. 1 spot, but got pushed back to third place this year by none other than Northwest River Supplies, which leapt from the sixth position last year into No. 2 in 2007. Hats off to Werner, which appears on
our top 10 list for the first time—a tribute to company management for ensuring highquality customer service and production. Johnson Outdoors climbed into the top 10 this year as well and is worthy of a nod and a salute for effort—although the company also garnered a top 10 position for most difficult to deal with, leading us to believe the company may need to ponder which parts of its business units (camping or paddlesports) are in need of dramatic improvement. We also should applaud The North Face, which garnered more “best company” votes than ever and increased its share of percentage points from 5 percent last year to 6 percent in 2007. Columbia, too, vaulted up the list from an also-ran in 2006 to the No. 6 position in 2007. » W W W. G E A R T R E N D S . C O M
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Photo: Camp 1, Abruzzi Ridge, K2, Pakistan (6700M)
Photographer: Bruce Normand
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12/19/07
12:38 AM
Page 72
retailer survey
S N E W S
®
O U T D O O R
2 0 0 7
RETAILER SURVEY RETAILERS WEIGH IN ON 2007’S WINNERS AND LOSERS. Welcome to the 2007 SNEWS® Outdoor Retailer Survey summary, where outdoor specialty retailers get to speak their minds and offer industry observations and commentary on what is great, good, so-so or desperately needs improvement. As we do each year, these two pages in GearTrends® are only a summary. To view the full survey—complete with expanded and detailed analysis of each category result—you’ll need to be a SNEWS® subscriber. Subscribers can access it at www.snewsnet.com/surveys. As always, there’s a lot of information packed into both this summary and the full survey results on SNEWS®, offering the industry plenty to digest, discuss, ponder and also view with pride. Keep in mind that although SNEWS® sends the questionnaire to hundreds of outdoor specialty retailers all over the country, this survey is by no means scientific in its approach. We certainly do believe the results are quite representative of the outdoor specialty retail market as a whole, and those who participate in the survey are consistent from year-to-year, so comparing answers from past surveys presents a useful picture of trends, market conditions and retailer moods. The survey was available for retailers to fill out online from Oct. 8 to Nov. 30. Those completing the surveys represent approximately $3 billion in outdoor specialty sales. At no time do we include sporting goods chains, discounters, department stores or big boxes in our surveys. The majority of respondents represent businesses with three or fewer storefronts. Results are representative of the U.S. market in 2007. Finally, while we regularly receive some truly tantalizing offers from those who want to know which retailer said what, we never disclose who responded to the surveys since that is the promise we make our retailers for their honest responses. One final point of importance: SNEWS® only poses the questions and does not predispose retailer answers by providing a list of choices. For a summary look at some of the cheers and jeers from retailers this year, simply read on. »»»
WHO DO YOU RATE AS THE “BEST” SUPPLIER TO DO BUSINESS WITH? Patagonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.4% Northwest River Supplies . . . . . . 12% Cascade Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . 10% Werner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9% The North Face . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6% Mountain Hardwear . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Johnson Outdoors . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Aquabound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% Kokatat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5% *Tied companies are listed randomly and all are considered statistically equal in terms of ranking.
Also receiving multiple votes were: Black Diamond, Carhartt, Darn Tough, Deuter, 72
»OUTDOOR »WINTER 2008
Hobie, Marmot, Osprey Packs, Outdoor Research, Sea To Summit and Vasque. With a record number of retailers responding to the survey this year, we again saw no dominant player and a wider spread of best company nominations with no fewer than 38 companies getting at least one vote. Patagonia continues to own the top spot as a best supplier to do business with, but it only hangs on by a thread with its percentage dipping slightly over last year. Cascade Designs keeps gunning for the No. 1 spot, but got pushed back to third place this year by none other than Northwest River Supplies, which leapt from the sixth position last year into No. 2 in 2007. Hats off to Werner, which appears on
our top 10 list for the first time—a tribute to company management for ensuring highquality customer service and production. Johnson Outdoors climbed into the top 10 this year as well and is worthy of a nod and a salute for effort—although the company also garnered a top 10 position for most difficult to deal with, leading us to believe the company may need to ponder which parts of its business units (camping or paddlesports) are in need of dramatic improvement. We also should applaud The North Face, which garnered more “best company” votes than ever and increased its share of percentage points from 5 percent last year to 6 percent in 2007. Columbia, too, vaulted up the list from an also-ran in 2006 to the No. 6 position in 2007. » W W W. G E A R T R E N D S . C O M
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Photo: Camp 1, Abruzzi Ridge, K2, Pakistan (6700M)
Photographer: Bruce Normand
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