While it’s been a tough year in the outdoor industry as companies and retailers work through excess inventory and the post-pandemic hangover, a presentation at Outdoor Retailer Winter by Circana provided some useful context about the bigger picture: the industry is still much larger that it was before the deadly virus turned the world upside down.

For example, outdoor equipment sales this year were up 37% compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic, according to Julia Day, business development director for research firm Circana.

“We’re all in larger businesses today than we were before the pandemic,” Day said during her presentation at Outdoor Retailer Winter 2023 in Salt Lake City last month.

At $27.8 billion, the core outdoor market in 2023 is $5.3 billion larger than 2019’s total of $22.5 billion.

Day’s talk covered the overall picture of the outdoor market including insights on top brand performers across retail channels and categories. 

Some highlights: sales of bikes and kayaks remain tough, apparel and footwear are holding their own, brick-and-mortar specialty is solid, and e-commerce sales have come down from pandemic highs. 

Macro-Level Trends

The overall retail market in dollars was up 2% year-over-year as of mid-September, while the number of units sold fell 3%, “because we’re dealing with inflation across the board,” Day said.

According to Day, the main factors preventing people from buying at retail are a slowing labor market, depleted consumer savings, soaring credit card debt, and increasing housing costs.

“We’re looking at a lot of headwinds that go beyond just the price of products,” she said.

Sales in the outdoor industry for the 12-month period ended September 2023 were $27.8 billion, down 1% in dollars year-over-year, and down 4% in units sold for the year. Average price per unit was up 3% for the year.

Apparel drove sales at 58% of volume. Equipment gave almost two full share points back to apparel this year, Day said, and accounted for 19% of volume. Footwear was 18% of volume and accessories made up the rest at 5%.

Another common theme post-COVID-19 pandemic was too much inventory in the outdoor industry. Day said that the problem is easing somewhat. “Things are starting to get better as we look month-over-month,” she added. “Things are leveling out. Working through the system.”

Flat is the New Up

Compared to many of the other retail categories that Circana tracks, sports equipment is “doing less bad,” Day said. Sports equipment is the broader category that includes the outdoor segment.

Overall, sports equipment sales declined 5% versus last year, but the average sales price was up 29% versus the three-year average.

Circana’s sports equipment category is comprised of activewear, athletic footwear, outdoor sports equipment, team sports equipment, cycling, health and fitness, and fishing equipment.

The following is a list of sales for the rolling year ending July 2023 by category, with percentages compared to last year.

• Activewear: $37.2 billion, down 3%
• Athletic footwear: $25.9 billion, flat
• Outdoor sports equipment: $11.2 billion, down 7%
• Team sports equipment: $11.6 billion, up 7%
• Cycling: $6.7 billion, down 14%
• Health and fitness: $2.4 billion, down 21%
• Fishing equipment: $3.9 billion, flat

“Flat is the new up here,” Day said.

Viral Water Bottles

One of the top-growing categories is insulated cups, mugs, and tumblers at $165 million in absolute dollar growth for the year. Day chalked that up to the social media craze around hydration and “TV shows where everyone’s carrying around enormous water bottles.”

“Then Stanley hit the nail on the head with social media. The right colors. The right shape,” she added, referring to Stanley’s hit Quencher FlowState H2.0 tumbler that went viral on TikTok and saw “meteoric growth.”

Declining Outdoor Categories

Within the outdoor equipment category, sales of full suspension bikes were down $198 million, and hybrid bikes were down $139 million for the 12 months ended July 2023.

Sales of recreational kayaks were down $137 million.

Change From Pandemic Trend

During the pandemic, every single outdoor equipment category was “on fire,” Day said, as consumers had fewer options for spending and were doing whatever they could to get out of the house.

Anecdotally, Day said her household bought three e-bikes during the pandemic, at $5,000-$6,000 apiece.

Now that people are back at restaurants, concerts, sporting events, and traveling, their spending habits have moved away from buying outdoor products.

“It’s not that we stopped spending,” Day said. “We just pivoted where we’re spending. We don’t need that other kayak right now.”

Need for Newness

Another key takeaway: Brands in the outdoor industry need to differentiate their products with newness and innovation.

“New products are selling,” Day said. “Newness. I can’t stress it enough. Consumers want to see that. Don’t discount that. It’s super important.”

In 2019, new items accounted for 5% of overall SKU counts across all retail categories and fell to less than 2% in June 2023.

Most new products haven’t provided customers with innovative features, Day added, and innovation and creative marketing will be essential to driving sales in the future.

Outdoor Industry Retail Trends

By channel, sales at athletic specialty/sporting goods stores were flat for the year at $20.3 billion. Outdoor specialty sales were down 1% at $4.6 billion. Sport specialty e-commerce sales were down 9% to $3 billion.

By supercategory, apparel was up 1% at $16.14 billion, equipment down 10% at $5.2 billion, accessories up 5% at $1.4 billion, and footwear down 2% at $5.1 billion.

Sales performance for the top five outdoor equipment categories year-over-year:

• Bottles/insulated containers up 25% to $812 million
• Camp chairs down 16% to $323 million
• Kayaks down 30% to $322 million
• Hard-sided coolers down 1% to $237 million
• Optics down 10% to $199 million

Top-Selling Outerwear Tops By Dollars Sold

• Patagonia Men’s Nano Puff Jacket (Average Price – $187)
• Patagonia Women’s Nano Puff Jacket ($188)
• Patagonia Men’s Better Sweater 1/4 Zip Fleece ($111)
• Patagonia Men’s Down Sweater Jacket ($225)
• Helly Hansen Men’s Alpha 3.0 Jacket ($358)
• Patagonia Men’s Torrentshell 3L Jacket ($141)
• Patagonia Women’s Better Sweater Fleece Jacket ($126)
• Obermeyer Women’s Tuscany II Jacket ($215)
• Patagonia Women’s Down Sweater Jacket ($219)
• Patagonia Men’s Better Sweater Fleece Jacket ($130)

Top-Selling Backpacks By Dollars Sold

• Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack (Average price – $180)
• Patagonia Atom 8L Sling Pack ($58)
• Patagonia Refugio 26L Backpack ($90)
• Cotopaxi Allpa 42L Travel pack ($194)
• Patagonia Black Hole Pack 25L ($122)
• Patagonia Refugio 30L Backpack ($100)
• Fjallraven Kanken Backpack ($56)
• Patagonia Black Hole 32L Backpack ($150)
• The North Face Medium Borealis Backpack ($85)
• Patagonia Black Hole Mini MLC 26L Travel Pack ($179)

Top-Selling Hiking/Trekking/Mountaineering Footwear By Dollars Sold

• Salomon X Ultra 4 Mid GTX (Average price – $146)
• Lowa Renegade GTX Mid ($217)
• Hoka Anacapa Mid GTX ($150)
• Keen Targhee III Mid WP ($130)
• Salomon X Ultra 4 GTX ($130)
• Hoka Anacapa Low GTX ($148)
• Hoka Kaha 2 GTX ($222)
• Salomon Quest 4 GTX ($194)
• Salomon Outpulse Mid GTX ($117)
• Oboz Sawtooth X Low BDRY ($135)

Bart Schaneman can be reached at [email protected].