Grassroots Outdoor Alliance has opened its annual buying shows, which fall about a month before the Outdoor Retailer (OR) shows, to a select group of independent retailers and independent-friendly brands.
- New Grassroots Connect event will piggy back biannual Grassroots Summit
- 50 retailers and 40 brands will be invited to inaugural event this November
- Former Outdoor Retailer (OR) Show Director Kenji Haroutunian helping organize event
- Grassroots members remain committed to attending OR shows
- Emerald Expositions and OIA to review OR's future at meeting in Boulder this week
The buying group has been working with former OR Show Director Kenji Haroutunian to organize Grassroots Connect, a 2.5-day extension of its annual Grassroots Summit early season buying shows. Haroutunian and Grassroots have already drawn up an invitation list of 50 independent retailers and 40 vendors for the inaugural event, which is slated to start on the last day of the Grassroots Summit in Knoxville, TN Nov. 11 and run through Nov. 13. Grassroots plans to subsidize on average 80 percent of each invited retailer's attendance costs, including travel and lodging.
Grassroots President Wes Allen said the venture aims to fulfill the buying group's mission of making it easier for its members to do business.
“As we look at what else we can do for them it became clear that it would be just staying a few more days and inviting more people into the tent for a couple of days,” said Grassroots President Wes Allen. “That would allow grassroots vendors to see all top accounts they would otherwise have to drive around and see before December and allow retailers to see the rest of the brands they would be seeing in a back room or hotel room in December during their busiest selling month.”
Allen emphasized that Grassroots members continue to see tremendous value in the OR shows, which generate more than half of Outdoor Industry Association's annual income.
“You can see the rest of the lines and get merchandising done and see brands in full glory and get complete picture of where partner brands are going in the next 12 months,” he said of the OR show. “The Summit is about put your head down and get orders written in a way that works for big brands.”
“Grassroots Summit events and Outdoor Retailer are symbiotic and work together very well to create a great eco system for the industry,” Allen continued. “We see Summits as kicking off the buying seasons and OR winding them down.”
Allen estimated that more than 80 percent of Grassroots members attend OR Winter Marketplace in January and more than 90 percent attend OR Summer Marketplace in August.
Invited retailer Tahoe Mountain Sports needs more details before committing to attend Grassroots Connect, but co-owner David Polivy said he is intrigued by the idea.
“Regional shows are incredibly important and we get a lot of work done, but you rarely get to speak with anyone above a regional sales manager,” said “And at OR it's really challenging to get their attention or have a follow-up meeting because they are only half listening or running off to greet someone in the booth. So it's a pretty interesting concept that might enable me to get the ear of someone who might actually make a difference to my business.”
Regardless, Polivy plans to attend ORWM. “The opportunity to find new products is always a higher priority for me at that show,” he said.
Grassroots Connect is launching into a an already crowded show season that is already testing the stamina and resources of reps and brands. Sales managers for apparel and footwear brands spend much of November and December meeting with key accounts such as Cabela's, Dick's Sporting Goods, REI and Eastern Mountain Sports while independent reps hold their regional shows. Many must then travel to the gauntlet of national and international trade shows running from early January to early February, including the SHOT Show (Jan. 20-23), ORWM (Jan. 21-24), SIA Snow Show (Jan. 29-Feb. 1) and ISPO Munich (Feb. 5-8).
“The early preview time in the market place is rather complex and somewhat crowded time period,” noted Darryl Denny, senior vice president for Emerald Expositions, the California-based company that owns OR and more than 80 other trade shows. ” I don't know how ultimately successful GOA plans will be. There used to be a greater distinction in what was sort of a preview season and a buying season. Really what you have now is almost an extended period of preview and buying that is complicated.”
Denny said Emerald continues to have a “mutually respectful relationship” with Grassroots. “We are not involved with the GOA event, or endorsing it, but are not by any means antagonistic either,” he said.
Denny said he is more focused on the ensuring the continued success of OR, which must decide in the next 60 days when and where to hold ORWM 2017. Denny will fly to Boulder, CO next week to meet with OIA board members to discuss those topics at a for a meeting scheduled months ago.
“The meeting is to discuss the OR show, its location in the future, and how best to serve all our members going forward,” OIA told The B.O.S.S. Report in a statement attributed to its Chairman Jennifer Mull, Vice Chairman Gordon Seabury and Interim President Steve Barker. “While other shows are a part of the discussion in the broad sense, the GOA show specifically will not be treated any differently than other regional/outside shows. To the degree that it makes sense for all the entities to collaborate, OIA encourages it for the good of the industry at large and that clearly includes the specialty retailers.”
Emerald also expects to launch a survey next week to gauge what OR attendees want.
“We've made provisions that allow us to have some flexibility in anticipation of what we may hear from survey,” said Denny, declining to elaborate on what that might entail.
Editor's Note: News of Grassroots Connect certainly shines new light on Emerald Exposition's Feb. 23 announcement that it had hired a retail relations specialist to support the specialty retailer community, and act as a lead for new buyer development.
