The direct to consumer (DTC) movement has become one of the central issues and hot button topics of the outdoor industry. Outdoor brands need to speak directly to their customers, but many companies have done so at the expense of the specialty outdoor brick-and-mortar retailers who have helped launch them, by violating their own MAP policies and enticing consumers to buy direct rather than visit their local shops.
SNEWS constantly covers this issue and highlights best practices that will allow brands to grow and brick-and-mortar outdoor shops to remain healthy and viable.
Our Outdoor Retailer Playbook and Outdoor Brand Playbook are two original series in which we deep dive into the direct-to-consumer issues that have become so central to our industry. In the Playbooks, we offer expert advice, case studies, tips, and best practices.
When the venerable Denali closed its doors in July 2019, leadership’s reason was that they “could not find a responsible path forward.” It got me wondering, what does it mean to be a responsible retailer today? To be successful, outdoor specialty shops have to offer much more ...read more
Keep up by reading Industry Buzz. Here are today's top headlines: Have a news tip? Email us at [email protected] The North Face today opened a new store in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, after unveiling an updated global retail strategy. The brand is ...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
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
Picture this: You walk into your favorite local outdoor shop in search of the perfect new down puffy. You walk past all the racks of Patagonia, Marmot, Mountain Hardwear, and The North Face, and straight to a smart-looking kiosk in the center of the floor. Via a 42-inch touch ...read more
Updated (6:45pm ET Tuesday): New details continue to emerge on Ibex’s fate since our initial report yesterday. Within the last hour, a current company executive confirmed that layoffs have happened, but denied that the company is in Chapter 7, Chapter 11, or other bankruptcy ...read more
Just a decade ago, local retailers were the biggest influencers of a shopper's path to purchase. But, just like most other industries—from airlines and hotels to restaurants and even schools‑changing consumer behavior has dramatically upended everything we all knew about how ...read more
My shop, Chopwood Mercantile, is a B-Corp certified Outdoor Retail shop in Crested Butte, Colorado, that provides unique gear and guidance to foster experiences in wild places. We conceived the idea to re-think outdoor retail in 2010 as a way to answer the challenges facing ...read more
Earlier this week, we published an opinion piece by Todd Frank, owner of The Trail Head in Missoula, Montana, lambasting Ibex or its treatment of its specialty retail partners. Our readers had a lot to say on the topic. Of course, there are two sides to every story, and we spoke ...read more
This summer’s announcement that Ibex would abandon the wholesale channel and would transition to a direct to consumer only model, caused a few of us in specialty retail to take pause. Is this the new reality we are going to be faced with every season? Or, is there a lesson to be ...read more
The final Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City is behind us. And while the attendees we spoke with felt that the aisles of the Salt Palace were less crowded that usual (no official numbers have been released by the show), energy was high around the industry coming together to ...read more
On July 5, Ibex CEO Ted Manning announced to company employees that fall 2017 will be the last season the merino wool outdoor clothing company sells product through wholesale channels. Ibex shifts completely to a direct-to-consumer model in spring 2018. “We’re pivoting toward ...read more
Ted Manning got an early start in the outdoor industry, first pinning on an Eastern Mountain Sports name tag at age 17. Now the CEO of Ibex, Manning’s a far cry from that sales floor-roaming kid, but he’s yet to forget his roots. In the past year, Ibex has worked to bridge the ...read more
We, the independent specialty retail shops, did all the legwork to create these customers. Without us, these companies wouldn't be here. I’m not sure there are many vendors that could survive without us, so I’m trying to help vendors balance capitalizing on the opportunities ...read more
