Rich Hill, president of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance is fired up.Anonymous 3P sellers on marketplaces – especially Amazon – are the single-biggest threat to the health of the specialty outdoor industry ecosystem in 2019, he told his members at the Grassroots Connect Show in Denver ...read more
Picture this: a customer walks into a specialty retail shop, spends an hour chatting with a sales associate to find just the right pair of shoes—then heads out empty-handed to go buy that exact pair online. This frustrating situation has played out in countless retail shops ...read more
It’s safe to say American shoppers don’t go to Walmart looking for top-of-the line backpacks, winter expedition apparel, and mountaineering gear. But the big box discounter challenged that assumption with the launch of a premium outdoor store last week.“When’s the last time you ...read more
Brick-and-mortar retail might have scored a point over mega online retailers stores today, thanks to a new Supreme Court ruling that gives states the authority to require sales tax, even if the sellers don't have a physical location in that state.But some specialty retailers ...read more
How good of an investment is the outdoor and recreation industry on Wall Street?A SNEWS analysis shows the sector has outpaced broader market indices such as the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average with healthy gains during the past five years, albeit still lagging behind ...read more
At the end of last year, the community of Montpelier, Vermont, was crushed when Onion River Sports turned off the lights after 44 years in business. But behind the walls, something was cooking. Former manager Kip Roberts and his wife, Jen, were in talks about owning a bike shop ...read more
Successfully producing outdoor gear used to be such a simple endeavor: Make great product, then sell it through retail partners, or directly through a catalog or your own store. These days, the formula has become a lot more complicated. With the option to distribute through a ...read more
KEEN Footwear is on a West Coast tour, showing off the world’s smallest shoe factory.The UNEEKBOT—a robot that builds glue-less cord and rubber shoes in about 30 minutes—is KEEN’s example of how the outdoor industry can re-think the supply chain process by maximizing ...read more
On a trip to the Lower Salmon River in Idaho, Alan Davis had his first vision for his own company. Someone had brought along a two-piece chair that didn't last through the trip. He wanted to create one for himself that was invincible and wouldn't break under any weight. He ...read more
Everyone in this industry knows the problem by now: The rise of online shopping has turned the traditional outdoor marketplace on its head. Consumers now turn to the internet first when they need new gear; brands seize the chance to sell it directly through their own websites or ...read more
So you want to open an outdoor retailer, but you’re bedridden with a broken back. Shopping for real estate, hauling boxes of product, and merchandising a show floor is a no-go for a while. Where can you start? Well, there is one retail space that’s already set up: Amazon.com. In ...read more
For a lot of Dave Polivy’s friends in outdoor specialty retail, online juggernauts like Amazon are seen as a hulking behemoth steamrolling the industry. Many of his contempoaries are reluctant to go anywhere near the e-commerce giant, let alone do business with them. But Polivy ...read more