While many specialty outdoor shops and specialty running shops have worked together for years, today the product offering at these retailers is looking more similar than ever before. Many outdoor shops are adding road running to their mix and many running shops are expanding beyond trail running into packs, outdoor apparel, and trail walking.


In years past, the overlap of product lines carried at running specialty and outdoor specialty retailers was limited to each store’s expertise. However, that’s changing significantly as trail running continues to gain sales momentum.


At Seattle Running Company, owner Scott McCoubrey can see a shifting competitive landscape. “One of our biggest competitors for our trail wall is REI. A lot of trail runners who are buying their trail shoes at our store also buy their outdoor gear at REI. If they see a sale on trail shoes there it does becomes competition,” McCoubrey said. “If they are a climber and runner they are going to have to make a choice to go to their climbing store or to us as their running store. Wherever they are spending the most time, that’s where they are going to buy that trail shoe.”


Cody Hill, general manager at Boulder Running Company, highlights the fact that customers in different regions have different expectations from their local running and outdoor shops. “Here, where trail running is very prevalent, people associate trail running shoes with specialty running stores. In other markets where there aren’t as many people actually trail running they may have a tendency think that they need to go to an outdoor or mountaineering store like REI or Eastern Mountain Sports,” he said.


Seattle Running Company carries outdoor brands like Vasque and LaSportiva specifically to attract more outdoor customers. McCoubrey said, “Carrying outdoor brands allows us to address that customer when they come in the store. It has also allowed me to service my running customer that would go to an outdoor store to buy their hiking or fast-packing shoe and sell them a shoe here instead.”


BRC’s Hill acknowledges the potential competitive threat, but in his marketplace, isn’t very concerned. “I don’t think we lose a lot of business to them.,” he said.  “We still sell a ton of trail shoes. I can’t imagine that if REI up the street went out of business I would increase sales 50%. That’s just a scenario I don’t see happening.”


At Rock/Creek Outfitters in Chattanooga, TN, marketing director Mark McKnight describes the experience of an outdoor specialty store crossing over into running. He explains, “We used to be located right next to a specialty running store. We had a symbiotic relationship that was more complementary than competitive. That’s changing. With [trail running oriented] apparel and accessories, we found our customers wanted to buy those products with us. It wasn’t that it wasn’t available down the street, but they were already on a trip to our store and buying their trail shoes here and asking for other things. We definitely have become more direct competitors.”


The major trail running footwear brands offer a different perspective. Brands like Vasque, Merrell, Oboz and LaSportiva are working with both types of retailers to expand their sales.


Jonathan Lantz, president of LaSportiva, said each type of shop requires a different strategy. He explains,” It’s a much easier sell to the stores that carry our mountain boots and climbing shoes. The store employees are much more familiar with the brand. And the consumer is much more aware of our mountain heritage. At running specialty, there’s a lot more education going on, explaining who we are, where we come from and why our shoes are better trail shoes.”


Not only has the competitive atmosphere changed between outdoor and running specialty retailers, but traditional mountain-oriented footwear brands are also beginning to offer road running shoes.
Merrell’s footwear line includes trail running and road running models. Gregg Duffy, Merrell’s product line director for running, says, “The harder battle is for the outdoor guys. We are going into run specialty and getting segmented on to their trail wall. I think we are the only outdoor brand that is offering road running shoes as well. That’s the disadvantage of Salomon, Vasque or Montrail. They have a very small portion of the trail wall.”


Brian Hall, senior product manager at Vasque comments, “Our outdoor specialty retailer base is bringing in road product in a big way and seeing a lot of success with that. We’re competing in our own channels of distribution that we’ve been playing in for years against road brands now. That wasn’t happening a few years ago. We have more competition than ever from road brands and the really good specialty outdoor running brands.


Describing LaSportiva’s approach to running specialty, Lantz said, “It’s tough because they tend to be smaller accounts because they are just moving one of your product lines and you have to really pay attention and focus on them. At the same time, they have real technical knowledge of running shoes, so you end up answering a lot more questions. In the end, if you make that investment, it really appears to pay off. If you are going to get more people in your shoes you really have to go after that consumer in run specialty.”


McKnight said that Rock/Creek has progressed quickly from trail hiking to trail running to running in recent seasons. “We started with Vasque boots and the more outdoor side of things and now we’ve crossed over to running specialty side,” he said. “We started with Brooks trail running shoes and now we have Brooks road running shoes and Saucony road running shoes. From the running specialty side, you get a fit that people aren’t used to if they are coming out of boots. They are already accustomed to the idea that you will have to break them in a little bit. But you put a Cascadia on and it fits great. We are still doing well with the traditional [outdoor] brands but we’ve definitely seen growth on the Saucony and Brooks side.”


Duffy believes outdoor retailers can learn from the experiences of their new competitors. He said, “Independent running specialty has taken years to figure out their model. They have it down pretty good right now. Outdoor still has a little bit to learn. If they look at the model of service that specialty running has, I think they will be in good shape.”