Grassroots Outdoor Alliance (GOA) released sales data showing an uptick in holiday season sales and a record-setting two years of sales increases.
In comparison to 2020, GOA member retailers were up +29 percent year-to-date, including an increase of +18 percent for the fall season (August to December), +22 percent sales growth for Q4 (October to December), and a +15 percent bump for December. The growth is on top of an upward trend in the second half of 2020, in which GOA retailers nationwide were up +10.8 percent.
“It’s hard to describe anything out there as ‘business as usual’ right now, but the ‘new normal’ has certainly shown that consumers value the Indie experience and smiled on independent specialty outdoor retailers,” said Rich Hill, president, GOA.
Hill added that despite a range of 2022 headwinds, including pandemic challenges, supply chain disruption, employee retention, overlapping brand expansion plans, and trade show instability, the GOA retail community noted is confidence in 2022.
“For both Grassroots retailers and vendors, the only constant in the last 12 months has been the revolving door of business challenges. Every week has been a new adventure, but fortunately, this is a remarkably resourceful community that clearly thrives when things get tough.”
GOA started strong in 2021 Q1, dwarfing sales from the spring 2020 shutdown and surpassed the same period in 2019 (+34 percent). The group pushed through summer where year-to-year growth lowered to +28 percent due to supply chain issues and ongoing virus/variant concerns. But end of year sales resumed healthy as retailers saw holiday traffic increase 19.1 percent for October to November, supporting an increase in overall August to December sales (+18.1 percent over 2020, +27.8 percent over 2019) and a boost in November (+36.2 percent over 2020, +32.8 percent over 2019) and December (+15 percent over 2020, +28.6 percent over 2019).
“Grassroots vendor partners came through for specialty outdoor retail in 2021. They kept lines of communication open, and they worked with our retailers to find real solutions,” added Hill.
