Outdoor Retailer and the Outdoor Industry Association will launch a four-week online survey to gather retailer's suggestions on improving the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market trade show.
The goal of the joint project is to engage retailers in a broad based and transparent survey regarding their forecasted business practices and needs, as part of show management's continued effort to increase the relevance of the show. OR, which attracts about 40,000 industry participants to Salt Lake City twice a year, is produced by Nielsen Business Media.
The OR research project will consist of a four-week long online retailer survey, scheduled to run Jan. 7-30, 2009.
“More than 6,000 buyers from a dozen different recreation sectors attend the OR Summer Market and each of them has different intelligence gathering needs,” said Kenji Haroutunian, Outdoor Retailer show director. “As the show continues to grow, we need high quality feedback from the industry to ensure that the show continues to provide maximum benefit, evolves with the changing needs of our attendees and exhibitors, while at the same time, applying new technologies and business strategies.”
As the outdoor recreation industry's trade association, OIA will act as consultant and partner in OR's efforts to gather information from the industry in order to determine the industry's future trade show needs.
“With business paradigms rapidly changing, the timing of this project is critical for the future health of the industry,” commented Mike Wallenfels, president of the OIA Board of Directors and president of Mountain Hardwear. “The OIA Board of Directors is excited to be working collaboratively with Outdoor Retailer to get input from the show participants and stakeholders and develop the highest impact trade show possible.”
The industry outreach effort, analysis of the input, sharing of the findings with the industry, and determining the strategic direction of the show will span several months with the goal to integrate buyer input into the 2009 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market to be held July, 20-24, 2009 in Salt Lake City.
