InsideOutdoor Magazine

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InsideOutdoor | Fall 2015
are up about 6 percent over 2014, which
could bode well for outdoor dealers, as-
suming the 66 percent rule holds up.
Acquisition Angst
Whatever the percentages and rate
of growth, retailers must battle for at-
tention and traffic, and it’s an increas-
ingly complex and highly fragmented
battlefield, particularly online. Last
holiday season, when Prosper Insights &
Analytics asked online shoppers to pick
the top ways they found a shopping site,
more than a dozen channels or methods
received statistically significant amounts
of respondents. An email from a retailer
was far and away the top method to
attract new customers, even among
younger shoppers, but just about every
other method declined in importance.
Furthering fragmenting things,
this will be the first holiday season in
which marketers can utilize social “buy
buttons.” Created to engage potential
customers even more directly and
bridge the chasm between initial inter-
est and an actual purchase, this spring
social networks started testing mobile-
centric “buy buttons” such as Buy
with Google, Facebook News Feed buy
button on Shopify and Pinterest Buy-
able Pins. Thought likely to represent
a sliver of actual sales, many feel this
holiday is a type of proving ground for
social buying and social media’s ability
to attract new, paying customers.
And make no mistake, engaging and
attracting new customers is an impor-
tant part of a holiday season strategy,
particularly for outdoor dealers. That’s
because your customers are not just
buying gifts for other outdoor custom-
er. As it turns out, outdoor enthusiasts
use gift buying as a way to “pass their
interest onto others,” according to a
survey performed for REI heading into
last year’s holiday shopping season.
“Our customers give gifts from REI
to share the joy that comes from being
outdoors, and we want to enhance
these experiences,” said Doug Schmidt,
divisional vice president of retail at REI,
upon release of the survey results.
At the same time, there will be
plenty self-gifting taking place this
December at outdoor stores, as a
full 84 percent of those surveyed by
REI admit to making a purchase for
themselves while holiday shopping.
And if this year is anything like last
year, clothing, fitness gear and winter
accessories will be on top of outdoor
enthusiasts’ wish lists. Some sugges-
tions within those categories, along
with much more, can be found in
the following annual Holiday Gift
Guide. Ho Ho Ho!
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