In its first comprehensive survey around the iconic outdoor industry trade show event since 2004, the organizers of Outdoor Retailer found – not so surprisingly – that new products and networking were the primary reasons retailers went to their trade show. But they also found something somewhat surprisingly to some — a lot of actual ordering gets done.


Among the key findings of the survey of 1,511 retailers:
-87 percent of retailers found new suppliers;
-76 percent wrote orders on site at the show;
-34 percent wrote orders on site with five or more exhibitors;
-52 percent wrote orders on site of $10,000 or more;
-82 percent of those that placed orders wrote for the same amount or greater than 2007.

The survey, conducted in January 2009 by Outdoor Retailer in collaboration with OIA, was designed to get attendee viewpoints on Outdoor Summer Market 2008. Of the 1,511 respondents to the survey, 63% had attended Summer Market ’08 while 37% did not. Owners represented 47.5% of total retail respondents; buyers, 21.2%; managers, 16.8%; and other, 7.7%. 62%  of respondents represented one store, while 21.8% worked for retailers with two to four stores, and 15.2% worked for retailers with more than four stores.


Overall, the trade show earned good grades from respondents. Asked to rate their experience at 2008 Summer Market, 38.4% were “very satisfied,” 52.5% were “satisfied” and 6.2% were “neutral.” Only 2.9% were “dissatisfied” and 2.3% said they were “very dissatisfied.”
Not surprisingly, “See new products” was by far the main reason for going to the trade show, and was considered “very important” by 71.6% of respondents and “important” by 24.5% of the those taking the survey.


Other primary reasons for attending the show included:
-Establish/build business relationships (46.9%, very important; 40.3% important);
-Find new suppliers/manufacturers (53.7%, very important; 35.3%, important);
-Find new product segments (35.7%, very important; 43.9%, important);
-Industry networking (29.6%, very important; 41.9%, important).

Other reasons receiving some solid support for going to the show was testing products in intended use environment, with 45.8% either considering it “very important” or “important;” outdoor community and cultural experience (43.4%), plan marketing and co-op strategies (42.7%); and finding closeout products (33.3%).
About a third of the respondents considered order-writing a reason to attend the trade show. Of the respondents, 11.2% considered “Write and close orders” as “very important” while 23.4% considered it “important.”


Of those who wrote orders for '08 Summer Market:
-25.8% spent less than $5,000;
-22.5% between $5,001 and $10,000;
-19% between $10,001 and $20,000;
-15.3% between 20,001 and $50,000;
-9.7% between 50,001 and $100,000;
-7.7% more than $100,000

Asked how many exhibitors they ordered from at the 2008 Summer Market if they wrote orders, 31.9% ordered from less than five; 24% from between 5 and 9 vendors; 9.5% between 10 and 20 vendors; and 3.4%, more than 20. Of those ordering, 23.7% wrote more orders in '08 than '07, while 58.1% said they wrote a similar amount and 18.2% wrote fewer orders than at the 2007 Summer Market.


Ranking lower as core reasons for attending Summer Market '08 were: attending educational business seminars, attending product technical seminars, the fashion show, the show sponsored party, and after trade-show events.


When asked to describe the markets their businesses serve, apparel (67.8%) was the biggest category mentioned by respondents. That was followed by footwear (59.7%), camping (55.6%), backpacking (54.5%), wintersports (48.7%), paddlesports (42.4%), climbing/mountaineering (41.6%), women's specific products (39%), running (30.6%), cycling (29.3%), pet products (25.6%), yoga/fitness/mind & body (25%), and health/performance food and drinks (24.3%).


Salt Lake City as a location also received high marks. Of the respondents who attended Summer Market '08, 55.5% preferred to stay in Salt Lake City for the next three years, 20.4% wanted to move out of Salt Lake City in the next 3 years, and 24% were neutral.


Asked what they liked about Salt Lake City, ease of getting from hotel to convention center received the most favorable response. Also receiving positive responses were enjoyable location; identified with the active/outdoor recreation culture and variety of lodging, restaurant and entertainment options; and flight availability. Affordability was also largely favorable.


Asked if they plan to attend '09 summer market for those who attended Summer Market '08, 80.7% said yes, 6.1% said no and 13.2% said they were not sure. Asking the same question for those who didn't attend in 2008, 40.6% said yes, 12.7% said no and 46.8% were not sure.