Talk of creating a stand-alone paddlesports trade show apart from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market is picking up steam as the industry prepares to merge its two largest trade organizations, TAPS and PIA.
The idea has been building over the last two years since the Outdoor Industry Associations board of directors approved Nielsen Sports Groups decision to move up OR Summer Market 2009 from the first week of August to the third week of July. The decision was supported by Johnson Outdoors, Confluence, and other paddlesports companies represented on the OIA board, but it caused uproar among many who complain July is too early.
“This is a big part of our agenda for the latter part of this year and 2009,” said Michael Pardy, executive director for the Trade Association of Paddlesports, which represents about 65 paddlesports brands and retailers and organizes the West Coast Sea Kayak Symposium every year.
Pardy said he favors continuing to work with Nielsen Sports Group, which owns the OR shows, to develop an alternative. He likes the model adopted by Nielsen for the Interbike show, which spun off an outdoor demo on the east coast this fall. Pardy is also investigating working with the Eastern Outdoor Reps Association, which held its first ever paddlesports centric show for reps and dealers this fall in Sturbridge, MA.
“The second half of September or early October would work, but they all want it in their neck of the woods and no one has talked about what it will cost,” Pardy said of paddlesports dealers.
The debate over creating a stand alone show gained momentum Oct. 10, when Werner Paddles sent a letter to its dealers announcing that after more than 20 years it was abandoning Outdoor Retailer.
“We do not believe the Outdoor Retailer show in July supports the paddlesports industries best interest,” wrote Werner President Bruce Furrer. “It is bad timing for most of our Specialty Retailers operating cycle. The underlying reason for changing Summer Market show dates to July was to accommodate longer leads times for soft good companies to produce their products overseas. Paddlesports, specifically manufacturers of kayak paddles, kayaks, canoes, and rafts do not need the additional lead time because most these products are Made in the USA.”
Contacted Friday, Werners director of sales said the company came to the decision after surveying dealers at the last few OR Summer shows. Only 50% said they would attend the show next year because the date fell at the peak of their selling season. Werner also had other concerns.
“We are concerned about 2010 product being released in July 2009 so product becomes obsolete in the middle of the season,” said Doug Ragan. “It depreciates dealer stock and hurts our sell through. Its a timing issue.”
Ragan said he “loves OR” but that Werner could not justify the expense of attending the show if only half its dealer were going to attend. He said Werner is not actively lobbying for a separate trade show, but does support the idea of creating a new venue in September or October.
Another company that has vowed not to return to OR next August is Shred Ready, which makes helmets for whitewater paddlers. “We will be attending regional shows, but for accounts out west, we arent really going to be able to go out there,” said Tom Shelburne of OR. “We are really hoping that the paddlesports industry will be able to come up with their own trade show.”
Ragan is among those in the industry who pointed to the success of Kanumesse, a trade show launched by the European paddlesports industry six years ago after they became dissatisfied with the Outdoor trade show in Friedrichschafen. The three-day show drew 1,095 visitors from 39 countries to Nürnberg, Germany Sept. 24-27 to visit 126 exhibitors showing 200 brands, according to Kanumesses website. OR Summer, by contrast, draws 66 paddlesports centric exhibitors and about 6,000 buyers, not all paddlesports buyers.
Back in the U.S., Nielsen is working to accommodate the paddlesports question, hosting several paddlesports leaders at its Fly Fishing Retailer show in Denver in September to explore the notion of a stand alone show.
Creating a stand alone show is fraught with logistical issues. First, splitting off another show might actually force smaller retailers to travel more, rather than less, since many would still need to travel to OR to meet with and preview footwear, apparel and other complementary lines. Similarly, not all vendors want to give up the massive audience presented by OR Summer Market.
“For every one dealer not attending we have 3 new shops who want to meet us,” said Brian Cooke of Level 6, a rapidly growing Canadian paddlesports company “For that reason we will plan on attending 2009s show.”
Cooke notes that he is concerned with the drop off in attendance by paddlesports dealers from outside the Rockies and is concerned that as retailers cut payrolls they will have even less time to attend in 2009.
The debate in paddlesports is merely a microcosm of a much larger conflict facing OR, said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the OIA.
“Its less a paddle issue than a hardgoods vs. soft goods conflict that is pretty common in the trade shows,” said Hugelmeyer, referring to the long lead times of softgoods vendors compared to the shorter lead times by makers of tents, car racks, boats, skis and other gear. “The conflict is an age old one, but the energy you get from the two of them together is quite rare and is not going to occur if you go to someone’s home office or a splinter show.”
