<span style="color: #9e9e9e;">With everything from COVID-19 restrictions to Outdoor Retailer’s decision to take its January’s 2021 Winter Market trade show virtual (as it did this summer), uncertainty has befuddled the snow sports industry’s major buying groups this season including how to connect its members with vendors.
SGB Executive spoke with two of the largest buying groups: Nation’s Best Sports (NBS) and Winter Sports Market/Sports Specialists, Ltd. and SnowSports Merchandising Corp. about plans to run their buying shows this season.
NBS
Servicing all categories of outdoor sports and general sporting goods, NBS, a nationwide buying group established in 1956, has more than 350 independent retail members representing over 1,200 storefronts. Open only to member retailers and approved vendors, it hosts six different buying shows annually, focused on members writing orders and where vendors have the opportunity to meet with and sell to NBS membership.
Nation’s Best Sports is scheduled to hold its annual Winter buying show in Fort Worth, TX — a show that, historically, is held several weeks prior to Outdoor Retailer Winter Market so its members and vendors can attend both shows.
“This year that’s not an issue,” said President Jim Chandley. “But, we were up in the air about what to do for about four months due to pandemic concerns. So, we started looking at alternatives.” NBS considered holding its Winter show virtually, as they did with their Fall show in September, “but the skiing business is so different, it really needs a hands-on show.”
In the end, NBS moved the show to the Gaylord Rockies Hotel in Aurora, CO, near OR’s canceled show in Denver, with the buying event scheduled for January 12-14. With 73,000 square feet of convention floor space reserved, compared to 56,000 square feet in Fort Worth, it “should give us ample room for proper social distancing,” he said.
The move to Denver has other advantages, too. “We looked at both Salt Lake City and Denver. Both are hotspots for where people live and who work in the outdoor industry. We figured that if people didn’t want to fly, they could drive there easily,” said Chandley.
So far the response from members and vendors has been positive. He added, “We know we won’t have our full membership turn out, especially with areas in the Northeast and out West issuing quarantine protocols, but, so far, our members and vendors have been very supportive.”
Only a couple of weeks into registration, NBS has commitments from more than 40 hardgoods vendors including K2, Armada, Swix, and Rossignol, and large responses from softgoods vendors. Chamley added that while vendors typically send three-to-four employees to the show to represent their brands, this year he feels they might send only one or two and they may be reps instead of designers and/or company executives.
“We’re looking forward to a good show,” he continued. “The season went well last year before it petered out with the closures. There’s some leftover inventory but, all-in-all, the feeling is pretty good. Every other outdoor sport has done very well this year, skiing’s next in line. And early snow, in places like Montana, is creating an exciting buzz about the season.”
Sports Specialists, Ltd. and SnowSports Merchandising Corp.
Historically, the industry’s two snow sports-specific buying groups — Sports Specialists, Ltd. (SSL) and SnowSports Merchandising Corp. (SMC) — hold their buying shows together at the Winter Sports Market (WSM) for two and a half days immediately before, and in the same location as, Outdoor Retailer’s Winter Market.
But, with OR taking its show virtual this year, that has left the two buying groups scrambling. “We’ve had a cooperative relationship for years, and it makes sense for vendors to meet with everyone at the same place,” said SMC president Tom Gately. “This is the only time we get together in the year. OR’s cancellation didn’t come as a surprise, we’ve been following COVID-19 restrictions in Colorado for a while, but we needed to make the right decision for our members.”
SSL president Dave Nacke agreed. “It’s a collaboration of shared practices that’s great for both groups. Our collective can see more brands, and brands can see more buyers. They can visit quickly and get their business done.
“We’ve been doing Winter Sports Market in conjunction with OR and SIA for 25 years, and there’s been great chemistry,” he added. “Our buyers represent the best of the best of specialty shops, and being able to shop premium brands first helps their bottom line tremendously. Then, after they’re done buying, they can look for new products on the show floor.”
But both groups acknowledged changing its in-person format won’t be easy. “We need to do the right thing for our members and wholesale partners,” said Nacke, whose 50-year-old group is made up of 60 independently owned retailers with 225 storefronts and purchasing programs with 160 major suppliers. “Every year, WSM brings 450 buyers together who spend more than $200 million. We don’t want to make any mistakes with that much money.”
The two groups have looked at a variety of options and recently decided that, like OR, a virtual format is the best way to conduct the show this year. “We’re in 28 states, many of which have quarantine protocols in place,” Nacke said. “It’s not a safe environment to bring a bunch of people together. The last thing we want is to hold a super-spreader event that gets half of the ski industry sick.”
The two groups have been meeting with Emerald Exposition to discuss options — one of which is the Western Winter Sports Rep Associations (WWSRA) tradeshow which many brands hoped might serve as a back-up to the WSM show usually held in February.
“Tradeshow relationships are a fluid dynamic,” said Nacke. “We all work together with the end goal being the best way to serve our retailers and brands.”
Instead, they, too, plan to go virtual. SMC president Gately said they have not decided which digital platform to go with, but they’re working with members and vendors to assess their needs. “We’re looking at ways to provide the same buying service digitally, but there are a lot of details to be worked out,” he continued.
Nacke added that they have vetted 30 digital platforms including Swap Card which is used by OR “but our buyers are expecting something more efficient,” he said.
Both agreed that there are benefits to going digitally. One, said Gately, is being able to watch recorded presentations and refer back to them whenever needed. And, at in-person shows, retailers often have an hour or less to meet with brands. A virtual show gives them more time. “There are things we can provide in a digital format that we can’t in-person,” said Nacke, adding that brands can also discern who attended what and when.
On the downside, he added, virtual events often “don’t give retailers the same level of focus because they are at the store when they’re joining them, and it’s held during a busy time of the year.”
The two groups still need to decide on the virtual alternative’s timing. Do they offer it over a certain window, as OR did with its summer show, and then let retailers re-visit for recorded sessions and virtual “booth” visits? And how does the timing work with different categories’ ordering deadlines?
“We need to be good citizens to our brands,” Nacke said, adding that they have discussed options with more than 40 brands. He continued, “They have varying order deadlines, some at the end of January, some mid-February, some in March, and even early April. We’re looking at a 75-day window. We’re going to let the brands dictate the timing and format.”
And some brands this year, he added, might host smaller showrooms across the country using Airbnb’s to let retailers see their gear. Regardless, the change could do the business some good.
“I went to my first show 50 years ago, and not a lot has changed over that time,” said Nacke. “This presents an opportunity to try something different that could also work in the long term. A physical show is always our preference, and to be able to touch something is important. Replicating that is the big challenge, but the digital format has its advantages, and it excites me not just this year but also the future.”
“Nothing can replace an in-person show,” added Gately. “But, we’ve been getting great support from our vendors, and everyone has learned a lot from the past six months, and suppliers have invested in their digital assets.”
