Sales of outdoor footwear climbed $299 million from May 2020 to May 2021, according to an article written by Peter Verry, citing The NPD Group Inc. senior sports industry adviser Matt Powell. The increase is 19 percent over the same period in 2019.
Much of the sales came from e-commerce, as online purchases now represent one-third of athletic footwear revenue, Powell said during an NPD Group presentation.
Verry quoted Powelly saying, “It’s really imperative now that every retailer have an e-commerce presence of some kind. You cannot ignore this phenomenon when it’s as large as it is.”
One of the several outdoor categories with strong double-digit growth this year is hiking and trekking footwear. According to NPD data, for the 12 months ended May 2021, sales in that category grew 20 percent over the same mark in 2019, with an increase of $53 million.
NPD also shared the top-selling outdoor items in the United States based on dollars sold, tracking the athletic specialty retail, sporting goods, outdoor specialty and sports specialty e-commerce channels.
The data revealed Merrell had three of the top 10 best-selling hiking/trekking shoes for the 12 months ending May 2021, including the No. 1 seller: the Moab 2 Mid WP that had an average price of $128. The other Merrell styles in the top 10 include the Moab 2 WP Low ($116), which came in at No. 5, and the Moab 2 Vent ($95), coming in at No. 6.
Other boots topping the best-seller list are the Keen Targhee 3 Mid WP ($137), the Salomon X Ultra 3 Mid GTX ($150) and the Timberland Mt. Maddsen Mid WP ($96).
Photo Credit: MERRELL
