There鈥檚 a lot of buzz around community building these days, but what do retailers really achieve when they devote money, space, time, and staffing to community outreach and support? Plenty. Retailers that build meaningful bridges with their communities improve environmental stewardship, fuel inclusivity among outdoor enthusiasts, grow participation in sports鈥攁nd, yes, boost sales. Here, four of the industry鈥檚 most innovative retailers share 12 proven strategies for harnessing people power.

The Strategy: Be the Clubhouse

Christine Iksic, owner of 3 Rivers Outdoor Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had multiple requirements for her retail store鈥檚 location when setting it up in 2018: it had to sit near the hiking, mountain biking, and running trails in one of Pittsburgh鈥檚 city parks, and it had to have an outdoor area for campfires. With a spacious patio out front that accommodates a fire pit and cluster of Adirondack chairs, 3 Rivers Outdoor Company now hosts campfire hangouts two to three nights a week. They鈥檙e incredibly popular, said Iksic, in part because snacks are readily available (she鈥檚 right next to D鈥檚 Six Pax and Dogz, a Pittsburgh hot dog institution).

The Benefit

鈥淗angouts help people find and connect with other outdoorsy people in Pittsburgh,鈥� said Iksic, explaining that in smaller outdoor-oriented communities, it can seem like everyone you meet at work or in your neighborhood loves outdoor sports鈥攂ut finding your tribe isn鈥檛 so easy in larger, more diverse cities like Pittsburgh. Iksic founded her store to make it easier for outdoor enthusiasts to locate one another, and campfire hangouts let people feel like members of the club. That pays dividends for the store, says Iksic: 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen double-digit growth since we opened, and it just keeps getting better.鈥�

The Strategy: Befriend a Clan

Mountain Chalet in Colorado Springs has developed a close relationship with the soldiers stationed at Fort Carson and the Army鈥檚 10th Special Forces Group, which is just one of the city鈥檚 many military installations. 鈥淭hey rely on us and trust us to know what鈥檒l serve them best,鈥� said shop co-owner Jim Smith, who runs the store with his wife and business partner, Elaine. The shop and the Fort Carson soldiers share a mutual dedication to mountain climbing and skiing, which served as the initial bond. But what really strengthened the relationship was a common emphasis on community, according to Jim. Several members of the military even joined the shop鈥檚 staff after getting out of the service. Said Jim, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a joke among some of our friends in active military that they鈥檒l all come back and work for us.鈥�

The Benefit

Expeditions initiated by current and former members of the military enjoy financial support from Mountain Chalet. The Smiths (along with brand partner Mountain Hardwear) helped a group of special forces veterans climb Mount Everest and assisted the 鈥淐amouflage for Conservation鈥� project that aimed to reduce elephant poaching in Africa. The shop also benefits from the relationship: the veterans who become Mountain Chalet employees are particularly hard workers, said Elaine. Soldiers are also loyal customers who often place bulk orders (the Army supplies some, but not all, of the gear they use) and they refer Fort Carson newcomers to Mountain Chalet.

The Strategy: Stage “Hero Shows”

Colorado Springs is also home to more than its fair share of elite athletes, so Jim and Elaine Smith regularly invite local athletes to give in-house presentations at Mountain Chalet about their exploits. 鈥淛oe Grant, an ultrarunner, got 100 people in our shop,鈥� said Elaine. Grant and athletes like him attract large numbers of outdoor enthusiasts to the store to learn and get inspired. 鈥淵es, these people do extraordinary things beyond what most of us do, but that鈥檚 okay,鈥� Jim said. 鈥淪omeone like Joe is still motivating, even if you don鈥檛 plan to mimic what he does.鈥�

The Benefit

Hearing from local athlete celebrities builds community pride and lets shoppers share in the excitement of their neighbors鈥� dazzling accomplishments. And retailers benefit from enthusiasts鈥� heightened interest. Said Jim, 鈥淭hese heroes inspire people to get out and enjoy the outdoors and the mountains in their own way.鈥�

The Strategy: Host Pint Nights

It鈥檚 no secret that beer brings people together, but the best community-building events do more than just serve some suds. At Sunlight Sports, a specialty retailer in Cody, Wyoming, weekly Pint Nights raise money for local nonprofits. Buying a purple silicone pint glass for $15 gets participants a free pour at every Thursday evening gathering, and all proceeds go to four outdoor initiatives that benefit area kids. 鈥淟ast I looked, we sold 3,900 pint glasses, and that鈥檚 in a town of 10,000 people,鈥� said Sunlight Sports owner Wes Allen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a date-night event for a lot of people, a reason to get a babysitter.鈥�

For maximum inclusivity, serve non-alcoholic beverages alongside the beers, recommended Christine Iksic of 3 Rivers Outdoor Company in Pittsburgh. Iksic鈥檚 shop always keeps a keg of beer (donated by a local brewery) as well as non-alcoholic alternatives on hand for apr猫s events following weekly running and mountain biking clubs, and proceeds generated by sale of the beverages are donated to area nonprofits.

The Benefit

Nonprofits receive much-needed revenue. Drinkers feel good knowing that their beer money benefits causes that they care about. Customers make connections with other outdoor enthusiasts. 鈥淪haring a drink鈥攁lcoholic or not鈥攁fter the event, that鈥檚 how the walls come down,鈥� said Iksic. Doing that among an outdoor-loving tribe lets people reveal and reinforce their identity, said Allen. 鈥淧eople meet, make friends, make plans, all in the context of being in the shop and supporting local nonprofits,鈥� he said. Plus, those crowds also buy store items while they鈥檙e in-house. Before Allen instituted Thursday Pint Nights, Saturdays had been the biggest days for sales. Now, Thursdays lead the week, with no dip in Saturdays鈥� numbers.

The Strategy: Teach Stewardship

鈥淥ver the past two years, during the pandemic, we saw an explosion of outdoor use,鈥� said Scott O鈥橞rien, co-owner of Skinny Skis outdoor store in Jackson, Wyoming. 鈥淲e, as a gear retailer, are the enablers.鈥�

In response to the spiking use (and sometimes abuse) of the region鈥檚 natural areas, Skinny Skis developed several initiatives aimed at helping customers become responsible users of the gear they buy. The shop asked local land managers for the messages about responsible use that they most wanted to circulate among the public; then, Skinny Skis printed that advice on the maps that the shop publishes for summer and winter activities. 鈥淥f course, the map also includes ads for the products we sell,鈥� said Skinny Skis co-owner Taylor Hall. But it also broadcasts expectations about picking up dog poo, avoiding run-ins with wildlife, and other strategies designed to minimize the potential negative outcomes of outdoor recreation. The shop also posts wildfire-prevention regulations near the shop鈥檚 front doors and registers. And it developed educational hang tags for various products it sells. Ski-touring backpacks, for example, get hang tags advertising the Backcountry Zero initiative (aimed at reducing fatalities in the Tetons) and links to avalanche forecasts, winter safety courses, and the Backcountry SOS app that contacts first responders in emergencies.

The Benefit

Teaching customers how to be responsible members of the outdoor community results in cleaner, healthier natural resources. It also improves people鈥檚 safety and enjoyment of the outdoors, saidys Hall. And in a tourism-dependent economy like Jackson鈥檚, happy visitors equates to better business for the destination overall. Said Hall, 鈥淎ny bad experience that a tourist has affects their desire to come back.鈥�

The Strategy: Cater to the Curious

鈥淚 remember being that person who looks at whitewater paddling and thinks, that looks really cool, but how do I get into it?鈥� said Christine Iksic of 3 Rivers Outdoor Company, who organizes one- and two-day introductory trips aimed at participants who have never tried the sport before. Rock climbing, mountain biking, rafting鈥攁ll of these activities impose real barriers to participation that Iksic seeks to overcome through her shop. Not only does she offer experiential learning adventures in outdoor locations around Western Pennsylvania, she also rents out equipment and sells used gear so beginners can try something new with a minimal financial investment.

The Benefit

Holding introductory outings turns curious amateurs onto new sports and lets them make connections with potential adventure buddies. Such conversions broaden a shop鈥檚 customer base, said Iksic: 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen that people will respond if you give them an easy opportunity to try things.鈥�

The Strategy: Hold Contests

Handing out raffle tickets doesn鈥檛 exactly build community. But mounting a contest that engages customers in a shared mission? That鈥檚 capable of forging meaningful bonds between an outdoor retailer and its patrons. That鈥檚 what Jim Smith learned when he devised a contest celebrating Mountain Chalet鈥檚 50th anniversary in 2018 (it鈥檚 the oldest outdoor store in Colorado). Spanning the months of February through October, with winners announced in November of that year, the contest invited participants to attempt and document various objectives in one of six outdoor sports. The shop created a dedicated Facebook page where contestants posted photos of their achievements, applauded one another鈥檚 exploits, and exchanged banter. More than 300 people signed up to win a complete gear kit for their chosen sport. And the prize giveaway parties felt like true community gatherings, said Smith.

During the start of the pandemic, he hatched another contest idea鈥攖his one in digital form. 鈥淭he shop was closed for eight weeks, and we were trying to think of ways to stay relevant and connected with our community,鈥� said Elaine Smith. Using social media, the co-owners started publishing map fragments from different locations in Colorado and challenging followers to identify them. The guessing contests generated lively participation among audiences.

The Benefit

The 50th anniversary contest generated a lot of buzz, said Jim. Between that contest and the map identification challenge, Mountain Chalet customers won impressive quantities of gear: a backcountry ski kit, for example, included more than $6,000 in equipment.

The Strategy: Avoid Divisive Causes

Many shops facilitate fundraisers for local causes. But in doing so, Wes Allen is careful to avoid crusades that spark contention among Sunlight Sports鈥� customers. 鈥淲e pick things that all outdoor-loving people can agree on,鈥� Allen explained, like supporting youth groups working to get more kids outside. 鈥淚 believe we can get a lot more done by bringing people together,鈥� he said.

The shop鈥檚 neutrality ends, however, when the controversy lands on racism or other forms of social violence against marginalized members of the community. When the shop鈥檚 home of Cody, Wyoming, experienced a surge in homophobic sentiment in 2020, Sunlight Sports backed an LGBTQ+ employee by posting a statement on social media saying, unequivocally, that haters and harassers simply aren鈥檛 welcome in the store. 鈥淚f you think it鈥檚 OK to make someone鈥檚 life worse because of who they love, stay out,鈥� wrote Allen and his wife, Melissa. That stance didn鈥檛 result in any blowback for Sunlight Sports, said Allen: 鈥淲e got to do that because we鈥檇 been working on bringing people together for more than a decade.鈥�

The Benefit

Avoiding divisive causes lets everyone feel welcome in the community of the outdoors. And supporting youth programming yields a host of benefits, said Allen. 鈥淚f you want to court customers, do something for their kids,鈥� he said, adding that people are very loyal to shops that feed their children鈥檚 development. Said Allen, 鈥淭he best way to get young people engaged in the environment is to get them outside and see what they might lose if they don鈥檛 do the right thing.鈥�

The Strategy: Ask for Support

In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, Alpenglow Sports owner Brendan Madigan asked community members in Lake Tahoe, California, to save the store from long-term closure by buying gift cards. They responded: within four days, they鈥檇 purchased a whopping $75,000 worth of them. More recently, at 3 Rivers Outdoor Company, Christine Iksic launched a 鈥淕ood Gear Investor鈥� program that asks supporters to buy $1,000 in gear credits that can be redeemed for store purchases. So far, 70 investors have stepped forward to issue something akin to a micro-loan to the fledgling outdoor store.

The Benefit

Madigan used the capital to support his staff. Iksic, meanwhile, is devoting her funding to expand the business to a second 3 Rivers outpost鈥攁 seasonal paddlesports rental location on the river. Her vision is to create a beach-like environment where people can not only rent watercraft but also lounge in hammocks (rented for use like cabanas) and buy snacks from food trucks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a win-win,鈥� said Iksic, because investors get their money back in gear, while 3 Rivers gets to create a new outdoor space the whole community can enjoy.

The Strategy: Support People in Crisis

Roads Rivers and Trails, an outdoor retailer in Milford, Ohio, responded to pandemic-related economic difficulties by launching a fundraising initiative called Milford Strong, which generated relief money for local businesses by selling gift cards. And for the past 15 years, Skinny Skis in Jackson, Wyoming, has sponsored Run and Ride for the Cure, a race that raises money for the Cancer Patient Support Fund at the St. John鈥檚 Health Foundation. 鈥淎 lot of those patients are our customers,鈥� said Skinny Skis co-owner Scott O鈥橞rien. 鈥淏ut the race also lets us touch a broader swath of our community.鈥� The shop committed to similarly broad outreach when it responded to the pandemic with a shoe sale fundraiser: for every pair of shoes Skinny Skis sold, the store contributed $5 to a community resource fund that distributed money to families experiencing economic insecurity.

The Benefit

Skinny Skis鈥� fundraiser generated several thousand dollars for families in Jackson. Since 1999, the Run and Ride for the Cure has generated more than $200,000 for local cancer patients. Less quantifiable is the feeling of connectedness that shop employees, customers, and racers enjoy by participating in community initiatives. Said O鈥橞rien, 鈥淭he size of our community is growing rapidly now, but we鈥檙e still a small town, and the core community has got to support each other.鈥�

The Strategy: Tout Your Victories

鈥淲hen I go to the grocery store, people stop me and thank me for everything we do for the community,鈥� said Wes Allen of Sunlight Sports. Why? Because the store is good at talking about its contributions, Allen maintained. He prints the shop鈥檚 fundraising accomplishments on Sunlight Sports鈥� paper shopping bags. Invitations to store events also include fundraising summaries so everyone hears about avenues for support and totals generated. Allen also posts info about donation recipients on the store鈥檚 social media pages and asks people to make their own contributions in addition.

The Benefit

Knowing the store鈥檚 community-support record increases residents鈥� willingness to shop at Sunlight Sports, even if it means spending more than they would at the much larger Sierra discounter four blocks from Allen鈥檚 place. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always something cheaper around, so our appeal has to be about how we engage with the community,鈥� Allen said.

The Strategy: Make Community Your Mission

Every retailer who contributed to this article repeated the same thing: community building only works when businesses make it part of their overall mission鈥攏ot just an ad hoc effort that鈥檚 intended to grow sales in the short term. Community connection is 鈥渙ne of the pillars of our operation,鈥� said Jim Smith of Mountain Chalet. Taylor Hall of Skinny Skis put it like this: 鈥淐ommunity is baked into the DNA of the business.鈥� (He鈥檚 not exaggerating: the store was, in fact, founded as a collaboration with the Jackson Hole Ski Club to help young skiers get the gear they needed).

The Benefit

Making friends and forming community connections feels good for both business owners and customers. Plus, shops that enmesh themselves in the fabric of their communities enjoy an enviably stable customer base. 鈥淭he benefit [of community building] is customer acquisition,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淲hen a customer feels like a part of a community, they support you over the long term.鈥�

The post Retailers: 12 Ways to Build Community and Become Local Heroes appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In Cody, Wyoming, there鈥檚 a little gear shop called Sunlight Sports that sits right at the center of town鈥攍oved and frequented by locals since 1971. It houses about 8,000 square feet of retail space but feels even cozier than that, a neighborhood shop by any definition.

It鈥檚 the kind of place where, browsing the aisles and picking through the gear, you might find yourself thinking, 鈥淗ell, I could run an outdoor store. How hard could it be?鈥�

Air that thought to owner Wes Allen and he may chuckle as he walks you to the shop computer. There on the desktop, he keeps an Excel document that has gained almost mythic status among some members of the outdoor retail community. He might even pat you sympathetically on the shoulder as he opens the file, watching your jaw drop.

The document is a list of passwords鈥�111 of them鈥攅ach corresponding to a different B2B wholesale portal Allen uses to place inventory orders with brands. Somehow, in the year 2021, it requires more than nine dozen B2Bs to run a single gear shop in the middle of Wyoming.

In our industry, the absurdity of that predicament isn鈥檛 an anomaly. It鈥檚 the standard.

鈥淲es鈥檚 list represents something fairly common,鈥� said Rich Hill, executive director at Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, the nation鈥檚 largest association of independent outdoor retailers. 鈥淥bviously, something is very wrong here.鈥�

If you don鈥檛 work in retail, it鈥檚 possible you鈥檝e never interacted with a B2B, but it鈥檚 not hard to picture how they operate. You find the products you want to order for your store, key in some details, and click 鈥渂uy.鈥� The business model is equally simple. In general, brands pay to use these systems, while retailers access them for free. Much like the fantasy of running a gear shop, though, it鈥檚 a lot more complicated under the hood.

Right now, there鈥檚 a race going on in the outdoor industry. B2Bs are still in their infancy, but it鈥檚 obvious鈥攁s Allen鈥檚 111 passwords prove鈥攖hat they鈥檙e widely used and will factor critically into the future of outdoor retail. The market now is chaotic. You have small, boutique B2B companies serving a brand here and a brand there. You have massive platforms, funded by multimillion-dollar corporations, representing companies like Patagonia and The North Face. And you have some vendors with their own proprietary B2Bs, further muddying the waters. It鈥檚 a frustrating potpourri of overlapping technologies, nearly unmanageable for most shops, ripe for a good old-fashioned rollup.

Good news, retailers: we may be on the brink of one.

How B2Bs Came To Be

The history of B2Bs is long, full of mergers, and probably too wonky for the tastes of most. But it鈥檚 critical to understanding where we are today. In the outdoor industry, the B2B market started in 2000, when a firm called CenterStone Technologies got off the ground in Denver. CenterStone鈥檚 product catered mainly to apparel and footwear companies, and it enjoyed plenty of early success. The tech was sensible, eliminating much of the headache of faxing paper order sheets, which was business as usual at the time; outdoor brands and retailers were quick to adopt it.

Over the next 20 years, CenterStone inspired competitors in the space. In 2003, another player cropped up, PlumRiver Technologies, which started to nab market share quickly. CenterStone responded by expanding in 2005, launching a new platform called iVendix. In 2009, another challenger entered the scene, Elastic Suite. Then the acquisitions started.

PlumRiver jumped first. The company bought Elastic in 2016 and CenterStone in 2018, increasing its market share exponentially. In 2020, sensing the need for consolidation, PlumRiver went all in on Elastic, elevating it as the business鈥檚 flagship product. Less than a year later, in January 2021, Emerald鈥攖he public parent company of Outdoor Retailer鈥攂ought PlumRiver for $34 million, throwing the weight of its roughly $400 million market cap behind Elastic鈥檚 technology. Twenty-one years after CenterStone kicked the whole thing off, a behemoth was born.

But not the only behemoth. Over in the fashion and big-box retail world, another company called NuORDER was founded in 2011. The software exploded in that sector, onboarding some 3,000 brands and more than 100,000 retailers鈥攊ncluding icons like Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue鈥攊n ten years. This June, the Canadian software firm Lightspeed POS bought NuORDER for $425 million.

Here鈥檚 where things get interesting. Last year, NuORDER formed a partnership with Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, working directly with the group to become the B2B of choice for some of the most influential indie outdoor shops in the country. Executive Director Hill said the reason for choosing NuORDER was simple: 鈥淓lastic is much harder for buyers. It鈥檚 infuriating. NuORDER is the exact opposite鈥攖hey built a system for retailers.鈥�

Early this year, Outdoor Retailer rolled out a proprietary buying tool called Digital Market built on Elastic鈥檚 technology. Because Elastic has been present in one form or another in the outdoor space for two decades, it has some of the industry鈥檚 biggest brands already on board: Patagonia, The North Face, CamelBak, Fj盲llr盲ven, Icebreaker, K眉hl, Mountain Hardwear, Outdoor Research, Smartwool, Timberland, and Rab are all users.

In the outdoor industry鈥檚 battle of the B2Bs, two heavyweight contenders have emerged.

More Than One Way to Sell a Coat

Elastic and NuORDER aren鈥檛 the only players in the space, of course, but they鈥檙e the titans poised for direct competition in the coming years. Each business is now flush with cash, and each has a major partner in the industry: Emerald/Outdoor Retailer behind Elastic, Grassroots behind NuORDER.

So what鈥檚 the difference between these products, really? The platforms diverge in several key ways, but the biggest is probably this: Elastic siloes its B2B by brand, while NuORDER doesn鈥檛. Elastic is too cumbersome for retailers, NuORDER argues, because you can鈥檛 place orders from multiple vendors at the same time, or see your multibrand assortment on one screen. If you want to order from Rab and Smith Optics, say, you have to open two browser tabs, navigate to rab.elasticsuite.com and smithoptics.elasticsuite.com, log into each B2B separately, and complete two discrete order-writing processes. (A large chunk of Wes Allen鈥檚 111 passwords are logins for different Elastic portals.) NuORDER functions more like a walled garden, with all brands and retailers logging into the same central platform.

NuORDER CEO Heath Wells sees Elastic鈥檚 segmentation as a cardinal sin. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have disparate experiences,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou need to have one central platform and network if you鈥檙e going to think about the retailer in general.鈥�

It鈥檚 a view widely shared by retailers themselves, for obvious reasons. 鈥淚n a perfect world, retailers would have one login for all the vendors we do business with and see everything in one place,鈥� said Todd Frank, owner of The Trail Head, a shop with two locations in Missoula, Montana. 鈥淲e鈥檇 be able to ask questions like, 鈥榃hat was our down jacket buy across all vendors this season? How many pairs of size-32 black pants do we have coming from all our brands?鈥� Being able to step back from your buy and look at everything you鈥檝e ordered in one place鈥攖hat鈥檚 the biggest advantage for us.鈥�

Elastic, on the other hand, argues that siloing allows for a more powerful product on the brand side. According to CEO Josh Reddin, Elastic鈥檚 product is designed to integrate deeply into brands鈥� enterprise resource planning systems鈥攖he software companies use to manage core business functions like accounting, manufacturing, and marketing. 鈥淲ith our enterprise business, we鈥檙e heavily integrated into these massive, multibillion-dollar manufacturers鈥� daily processes,鈥� said Reddin. This provides Elastic with data to better understand its clients鈥� supply chains, operations, warehousing logistics, and more, Reddin said, which鈥攁t least in theory鈥攎akes for a better product.

NuORDER鈥檚 response, amplified through its partners at Grassroots, is to reiterate that Elastic鈥檚 customization hurts retailers. As Allen of Sunlight Sports put it, 鈥淓lastic鈥檚 pitch to brands is that you can customize your B2B. But when brands do that, you end up with a bunch of different layouts that are just dissimilar enough to cause problems. You have to spend a few minutes relearning each system every time you log in.鈥�

Elastic, meanwhile, maintains that NuORDER鈥檚 vision of uniformity鈥攖he 鈥渆verything in one place鈥� approach鈥攊sn鈥檛 just unrealistic, it鈥檚 impossible to realize fully. 鈥淭his open-marketplace concept that NuORDER tries to execute falls apart when you start talking about the biggest brands in the industry,鈥� said Reddin. 鈥淧atagonia and The North Face will never share a cart in a B2B system, ever. These larger companies have tight product segmentation. If you think about a brand like The North Face, sold in places as disparate as Macy鈥檚, REI, and specialty shops, they want to make sure their retailers are carrying unique product mixes. That means they need to control what products different retailers see, what pricing terms and discounts are offered鈥攖hat kind of thing. That鈥檚 why, with certain manufacturers, we have to create that gated experience.鈥�

Consider the Retailer

So, to recap: two big products, two approaches to the technology, and a fragmented market. Who鈥檚 going to win this thing? Will one company eventually gobble up enough market share to become the industry鈥檚 de facto standard, or will the battle鈥攁nd retailers鈥� technological headache鈥攃ontinue indefinitely?

The short answer is, it鈥檚 too soon to tell. The battle of the B2Bs, at this point, is anyone鈥檚 game.

Right now, Elastic is clearly ahead in user adoption. Because its business is built on legacy systems dating back 20 years鈥攁ll of which targeted the outdoor industry from the get-go鈥攊t鈥檚 had a massive head start onboarding the big players. It鈥檚 hard to overstate the importance of that advantage. Once a few big brands have selected a platform, they鈥檙e unlikely to switch without good reason. A crowded market is primarily the retailer鈥檚 problem, after all. As Allen at Sunlight Sports said, 鈥淲hen a brand chooses a platform, we, as retailers, are forced to follow.鈥� (Neither platform agreed to share its total number of brand partners for this article.)

It鈥檚 a point of assurance and pride for Elastic. 鈥淲e have who we have,鈥� said Reddin. 鈥淸These brands] are never going to leave鈥攌nock on wood. And so the retailer will always be using our tool, no matter what. When you have that leg up from an adoption and standardization standpoint, that鈥檚 a big win.鈥�

On the other side of the equation, NuORDER has more money behind it and invests heavily in product development. And plenty of brands are still up for grabs. Alex Kutches, vice president of sales and marketing at Mystery Ranch, said his company recently signed on with NuORDER because it found the platform鈥檚 front-end functionality and user experience a better fit. 鈥淲e felt good about the integration process,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the first season we鈥檝e had a B2B solution, and honestly it came down to the wire between NuORDER and Elastic.鈥�

Perhaps all this is beside the point. The plight of giant corporations duking it out to dominate a crowded market isn鈥檛 all that compelling when you get right down to it. It鈥檚 the stories on the ground that matter: the small-business owners logging onto their shop computers and trembling at the sight of 111 browser tabs open simultaneously.

The B2B companies know this, too. Both Elastic and NuORDER insist that they care deeply about retailers. They work for both sides, they said. 鈥淪omeone鈥檚 got to solve the retailer鈥檚 side,鈥� said Wells. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we鈥檙e on a mission to do. We see this as a two-sided equation. Both need to win.鈥� Reddin echoed the sentiment. 鈥淚f we want to communicate with our retailers digitally, we can鈥檛 have them using 15 different platforms,鈥� he said.

Given this general outlook at Elastic and NuORDER, there鈥檚 another question at play here鈥攎ore cynical, but worth asking. Both companies are built on the premise that one platform, if it鈥檚 constructed well and reaches a critical mass of users, can solve the needs of brands and retailers simultaneously. It鈥檚 certainly an elegant idea. But is it realistic?

The user-experience philosophy of most B2Bs (including these two) ignores the reality that brands and retailers don鈥檛 have equivalent pull in platform selection. Yes, these products profess to serve both sides equally, but the fact remains that even hundreds of retailers collectively campaigning for the standardization of one platform may not be enough to convince the big brands to use it, too. On the other hand, as soon as a company like Patagonia or The North Face digs in its heels and says 鈥淲e鈥檙e using this one鈥濃�攅ven with no explanation as to why鈥攔etailers are forced to follow. (Both Patagonia and The North Face declined to comment on their reasons for choosing Elastic. Arc鈥檛eryx, one of NuORDER鈥檚 biggest brands in the outdoor space, also declined a request for comment.)

If it turns out, then, that no single platform ever succeeds in monopolizing the industry (a very real possibility), retailers may always be at a disadvantage without some kind of third-party solution to fix the problem鈥攁 software, say, to organize and manage data from disparate B2Bs in a uniform way.

Up in Michigan, another company called Envoy B2B is working on just such a product.

Jon Faber, the CEO of Envoy, has directed his team to build a 鈥渞etailer-centric鈥� platform under the umbrella of a new company called BrandKeep. After interviewing more than 250 retailers across the U.S., Faber and his team have concluded that, right now, retailers鈥� biggest pain point isn鈥檛 the labor associated with placing orders through multiple B2Bs. 鈥淭he primary challenge is organization,鈥� Faber said. The only way to manage all the B2B systems productively is with another system designed to keep everything in one place.

To that end, BrandKeep, a cloud-based platform, won鈥檛 focus on order writing; instead, Faber and his team have dubbed their new tool a 鈥渧endor relationship management鈥� system, which they鈥檙e calling the first of its kind. More like a digital filing cabinet, it will allow retailers to manually organize their B2B links, order deadlines, MAP policies, seasonal workbooks, price lists, and all the rest in one place. Brands will also be able to participate in the platform, providing verified information to retailers. Gabe Maier, former vice president at Grassroots, is leading the project. It will be available as soon as this year for some users, though the team at Envoy hasn鈥檛 released an official timeline.

鈥淭he retailer鈥檚 world has become more and more fragmented as brands continue to adopt digital solutions,鈥� said Maier. 鈥淲e believe [the problem] can only be solved by building a platform that puts the retailer in the driver鈥檚 seat from day one.鈥�

Maybe, or maybe not. Frank at The Trail Head says that, in general, B2B management products strike him as 鈥渕argin vampires鈥濃�攕o-called solutions, usually subscription-based, that eat away at retailers鈥� bottom lines. 鈥淐ould I hire someone half-time, pay them to manage my B2Bs for me, and come out ahead?鈥� he said. 鈥淢ore technology isn鈥檛 necessarily the solution to bad technology.鈥�

For retailers who find themselves particularly affected by the hyper-fragmented state of the market and do want to manage the problem themselves, however, it might be just the lifeline they need.

The Days Ahead

It鈥檚 worth noting that not everyone is sold on the idea of B2Bs in the first place. As with any technology, there are bound to be skeptics. Some predict, pessimistically, that B2Bs will sound the death knell for trade shows and independent sales reps, but those fears are probably overblown. Though it鈥檚 tempting to read Emerald鈥檚 (i.e. Outdoor Retailer鈥檚) investment in Elastic as a hedge against potential trade show declines, OR show director Marisa Nicholson is quick to emphasize her organization鈥檚 position on the new Digital Market buying tool. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see it as replacing the trade show,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 see it as the evolution of how we鈥檙e doing business. It doesn鈥檛 change the reason you鈥檙e coming to OR. Ultimately it just provides a more efficient sales tool.鈥�

Ditto on the rep side. As Phil Flamand, a three-decade industry rep and owner of the agency Flamand Sports, which represents brands such as prAna and Thule, pointed out, it鈥檚 natural for folks in his position to worry about this kind of thing. 鈥淵ou start to think, if this becomes too good, they鈥檙e not going to need me anymore,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut the fact is, we now have a better pulse on retailers鈥� businesses because of these tools.鈥�

In the coming years, the conversation is much more likely to pivot to issues like data privacy. 鈥淎ny investor in a publicly traded company in our industry would be interested in getting their hands on preseason sales data,鈥� Hill at Grassroots said. As B2Bs continue to add brands and retailers to their client lists, the opportunity to monetize data from those businesses will only grow.

It鈥檚 a concern that鈥檚 painfully present for many retailers. 鈥淭here鈥檚 too much money at stake here not to think there鈥檚 a data play going on,鈥� said Frank at The Trail Head. 鈥淭he big fear every retailer has is that this data will be weaponized against us.鈥� If B2Bs start selling sales data to brands (especially the ones with direct-to-consumer channels) as well as online marketplaces, he said, 鈥渋t will destroy the secret sauce we have as individual store owners trying to compete.鈥�

For now, Grassroots has a written agreement with NuORDER that the latter won鈥檛 sell preseason order data from any Grassroots retailers. Reddin, over at Elastic, makes a similar promise. 鈥淚t never has been, and never will be, a short- or long-term objective to use our clients鈥� sell-in data for anything other than providing an intuitive interface that allows for informed and predictive buy recommendations,鈥� he said. Elastic doesn鈥檛 currently include language in its contracts that binds the company to this promise, but Reddin said he鈥檚 in the process of writing it in.

Still, looking to the future, it鈥檚 a concern both brands and retailers would do well to keep an eye on. User agreements and company policies can change.

All of this to say: we鈥檒l see what happens. The race is underway, and it鈥檚 not showing any signs of slowing. On the B2B side, spirits are high. Reddin said he believes 90 percent of outdoor brands will be using Elastic by the end of 2022. NuORDER, meanwhile, is currently investing millions in its partnership with Grassroots.

鈥淲e think the B2B market is just getting started,鈥� said Wells, adding for the record that he doesn鈥檛 like the word 鈥渂attle鈥� to describe what鈥檚 going on. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big market,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e all keep each other honest.鈥�

Back in Cody, Wyoming, though, Allen doesn鈥檛 anticipate his 111-password list shrinking anytime soon. 鈥淭here鈥檚 reason to believe retailers will not be the downstream beneficiaries of these systems,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the standard with any online service: if you don鈥檛 pay for it, you鈥檙e the product.鈥�

The post The Billion-Dollar Battle of Outdoor B2B Platforms appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Stamping Out Racism

The Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge catalyzes business leaders to bust up the all-white club

During the summer 2018 Outdoor Retailer show, Teresa Baker roamed the aisles and asked company leaders to sign her just-launched pledge to make outdoor businesses more inclusive of people of color. More than just a statement of intent, the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge committed signatories to developing a bona fide action plan.

And Baker is all about action. She was far from the first person to talk about the lack of diversity in the outdoor industry. But her Pledge, and the accountability it creates among leaders, has accelerated change in a powerful way.

Initially, Baker didn鈥檛 rouse an avalanche of responses. As founder of the African American National Park Event, she wasn鈥檛 a well-known figure within the industry. But she sensed that gear brands represented a powerful way to amplify her DEI efforts beyond the national parks. After all, Baker鈥檚 hikes around Big Sur and other spots near her California home convinced her that outdoor enthusiasts already included people of color. 鈥淲e hike, ski, climb鈥攚e do all these things,鈥� said Baker. 鈥淏ut looking at the social media feeds of [gear] brands, you wouldn鈥檛 know that.鈥�

So along with Chris Perkins, a Yale University forestry student, Baker developed the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge and its supporting program. Marmot鈥檚 general manager, Joe Flannery (who has since moved on to Callaway Golf), was among the first to sign in May 2018. A year later,聽the Pledge had amassed 28 CEOs who promised to craft a specific set of actions for their companies to hire and support a diverse workforce and executive leadership; present representative marketing and advertising in media; engage and support broadly representative ambassador and athlete teams; and share best (and unsuccessful) practices within the industry.

Those focus areas and the consultations with Baker鈥檚 team have helped Granite Gear take DEI 鈥渢o another level,鈥� says Rob Coughlin, general manager, who signed the Pledge in 2018. 鈥淭eresa has had such an influence on me and made me look at myself really hard,鈥� Coughlin said. That scrutiny prompted the brand to diversify its team of trash-removing Grounds Keeper hikers, to represent BIPOC and LGBTQ+ issues on its social channels, and to emphasize diversity when hiring. Still, Coughlin knows the work is far from done. When detractors slam the company鈥檚 representation of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ hikers in its newsletters and social media feeds, 鈥淭hat just makes us want to do more,鈥� said Coughlin.

Such efforts are snowballing into even greater impact. At press time, more than 220 brands had signed the Pledge and 200 more were in the pipeline. The program鈥檚 job board now lets participating organizations target and recruit diverse candidates.

The current climate has awakened Americans鈥� understanding that opposing racism requires active change rather than passive agreement in the status quo. But the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge issued that call to action more than two years ago. Its earliest adopters are showing how a real commitment to this issue can lead to real change. 鈥淧eople are finally understanding that the demographics in this country are shifting into a scenario where people of color are dominant,鈥� said Baker. 鈥淲e need and we demand a change.鈥�

Green Police

REI Co-op pushes the entire industry toward a more sustainable future

How can the biggest outdoor retailer in the country be a disruptor, you ask? Its size gives it leverage, and it鈥檚 using that leverage to change the way the industry makes gear.

In spring 2018, REI unveiled a new set of sustainability standards and told its more than 1,000 vendors that they鈥檇 need to comply with everything on that list by fall 2020鈥攐r lose the opportunity to sell through REI. The five guidelines (see sidebar, below) direct companies to pursue healthier supply chains, get savvy about harmful chemicals, and incorporate sustainable materials such as organic fibers, humanely sourced down, and Bluesign-certified fabrics into their products.

These might not seem like controversial聽asks. After all, who would argue against the treating factory workers fairly, or avoiding the use of toxic chemicals? Yet standard manufacturing practices continue to rely on habits that harm people, animals, and the planet鈥攂ecause changing those norms takes tremendous effort and resources. REI has forced the issue, and brands are scrambling to comply.

Of course, not all manufacturers are behind the curve. For some, REI鈥檚 requirements merely describe practices that they鈥檝e already put in place. But they鈥檙e the exception, not the rule. REI wanted to hasten widespread adoption, so it issued an ultimatum and set out a clear path to reach it. 鈥淥ur standards are meant to help scale sustainability best practices beyond just these leading brands and to make them more achievable by every brand across our industry,鈥� explained Greg Gausewitz, REI鈥檚 product sustainability manager.

Some standards resonate with consumers (those who prefer humanely collected down, for example). Others dictate back-end changes to supply chains, logistics, and sustainability monitoring. The requirement for brands to complete the Higg Index self-assessment tool has proven to be so difficult that REI is revising the timeline for its compliance, to be released sometime in 2020. But the disruptive effect of REI鈥檚 product sustainability standards is about more than any one requirement. It鈥檚 the sum of the parts, and the fact that brands that aren鈥檛 willing to walk the sustainability talk will lose out on the聽industry鈥檚 most sought-after door, potentially devastating their businesses.

The threat shocked a number of brands, says outdoor industry veteran Ammi Borenstein. As principal at Snaplinc Consulting, Borenstein has helped a half dozen brands comply with REI鈥檚 standards. 鈥淭hey were asking, 鈥楬ow do I get my arms around this?鈥� Because many of them didn鈥檛 have any basic, meaningful sustainability foundation in place,鈥� Borenstein said.

Yet REI鈥檚 requirements also set brands on a clear path to best practices, Borenstein said: 鈥淚f you鈥檙e coming from zero, it鈥檚 very hard to know what to do first, but the standards provide a starting point and roadmap.鈥�

Even Royal Robbins, which wasn鈥檛 starting from zero, received valuable guidance from the Product Sustainability Standards. 鈥淭here were a lot of things that we were working on, but the guidelines helped to sharpen our focus,鈥� explained Kaytlin Moeller, Royal Robbins鈥� brand sustainability manager. As a member of the Fenix Outdoor family of brands聽(which includes Fja虉llra虉ven and Primus), Royal Robbins had already begun to map its supply chain and had asked its tier one suppliers (which sell directly to Royal Robbins) to sign onto a sustainability code of conduct, but REI鈥檚 standards nudged Royal Robbins to extend that code of conduct to tier two suppliers (which sell to tier one).

Now, Royal Robbins is evaluating how to eliminate the practice of wrapping individual products in polybags. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 happen overnight because we need to make sure our logistical system is set up to process that change,鈥� said Moeller. Ditching polybags represents a significant change in any company鈥檚 operations, but the hope from REI is that Royal Robbins and other brands will find big strides to be more achievable once the Product Sustainability Standards lay down the stepping stones.

Of course, REI benefits from its vendors鈥� advances in sustainability. 鈥淭hird-party brands account for the majority of REI鈥檚 product sales,鈥� said Gausewitz. 鈥淭hese products also account for the most significant component of REI鈥檚 environmental footprint. So if we want to bring a more sustainable offering to our customers and continuously reduce our footprint, it鈥檚 critical that we partner with the brands we work with.鈥� REI has dropped brands that do not align with its standards, he adds.

A crib sheet on REI’s product sustainability standards

1. Create fair and safe supply chains, using a manufacturing code of conduct that outlines social and environmental standards and pursuing Fair Trade certification wherever possible.

2.聽Manage chemical use to avoid toxic substances, such as oxybenzone (in sunscreens) and long-chain PFAS.

3. Source materials that comply with guidelines for responsible land stewardship, such as organic crops and wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

4. Ensure that animal-derived materials (such as down, wool, and leather) come from animals that received humane treatment.

5. Address products鈥� environmental impacts across their entire life cycle鈥攊ncluding disposal鈥攂y completing the Higg Index Brand & Retail Module.

However, says Borenstein, some of the most exciting and far-ranging impacts of the REI guidelines have been the ways that brands are now exploring sustainability beyond those basic requirements. Fulfilling REI鈥檚 sustainability expectations has prompted a groundswell of excitement within companies that鈥檚 buoying them to greater things. 鈥淧eople want to do the right thing, and they want to work for a company where they know they do the right thing, so we鈥檝e seen [REI鈥檚 guidelines] activating employee excitement,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen it becomes meaningful to brands鈥� customers, employees, and leadership, companies start dedicating money and time to it. That鈥檚 when sustainability takes on a life of its own.鈥�

As with any change to the status quo, results can be somewhat hard to track, but REI remains optimistic that its efforts will address the biggest problem of our time: climate change. 鈥淲e do not yet have data to show the carbon benefits of our standards,鈥� Gausewitz said. 鈥淎ddressing climate change is at the heart of our mission to fight for life outdoors, and our Product Sustainability Standards are an important tool in that fight. We continue to work to get better data so we can fine-tune our efforts and better understand our impact.鈥�

No Strings Attached

Stio provides retailers with new gear on consignment terms

It鈥檚 one of retail鈥檚 most fundamental tenets: Shops buy goods at wholesale, sell them to consumers, then figure out what to do with the inventory that doesn鈥檛 sell. But, in 2016, Stio hatched a novel kind of consignment deal that placed new apparel 鈥渙n wheels鈥� in select brick-and-mortar outdoor retailers. If items don鈥檛 sell there, Stio takes them back and doesn鈥檛 charge the shop. The program, called Outpost, lets Stio sell product in retail shops while retaining the direct-to-customer model at the core of its business. But it also opened retailers鈥� eyes to a new realm of possibility for their聽partnerships with manufacturers and the idea is catching on.

鈥淚t gives specialty retail some bargaining leverage,鈥� said Brendan Madigan, owner of Alpenglow Sports in Tahoe City, California. He says that his participation in Stio鈥檚 Outpost program has made him reevaluate his existing relationships. 鈥淚 can say hey, here鈥檚 a company that鈥檚 giving me the same terms you do, but with zero inventory risk,鈥� said Madigan. And Outpost addresses one of Madigan鈥檚 biggest, most persistent problems: cash flow.

With Outpost, Stio provides retailers with product, delivered about eight times per year (compared to the two deliveries in spring and fall that are the norm for the broader apparel industry). Those retailers are not permitted to market Stio pieces using any kind of national reach, so Stio retains control of its brand identity. But retailers are expected to honor flash sales and seasonal clearances that Stio occasionally offers through its DTC channel. Retailers collect the typical, keystone wholesale margin. And they return unsold items to Stio, which developed the program because retailers kept asking for a way to carry Stio apparel in their stores. According to Stio, only a very small percentage of product has been returned, which Stio combines with its other inventory for sale online.

鈥淚t started at the insistence of a bunch of old retail friends of mine,鈥� explained Stio founder Stephen Sullivan, who had developed extensive retailer relationships during his days at Cloudveil (another Jackson-based apparel brand that Sullivan helmed until 2010). Jans in Park City, Utah, and Sturtevants in Ketchum, Idaho, were among the first retailers to become Stio Outposts. 鈥淲e seek out high-quality shops that really focus on customer engagement, have high-quality staff, and invest in a lot of staff training,鈥� Sullivan said.

Madigan likes that such terms let him be more financially fluid. But he also thinks they separate the wheat from the chaff. 鈥淭here are a lot of average brands in a saturated, competitive market,鈥� he said. Offering retailers product on wheels strengthens retailers鈥� negotiating position and puts pressure on manufacturing brands to earn their spot in brick-and-mortar showcases.

Currently, the Outpost program includes about 40 stores, and Sullivan expects that number to grow鈥攁lbeit slowly. 鈥淚 think a lot of the other brands are probably pissed off at me for having stuff on wheels, so we won鈥檛 expand it too aggressively,鈥� Sullivan joked. Besides, Outpost is most valuable as a piece of Stio鈥檚 broader puzzle of markets; leaning too hard on it for sales incurs too much inventory risk. But from a branding and marketing standpoint, said Sullivan, it鈥檚 been very successful. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to quantify what it鈥檚 done,鈥� he admitted. 鈥淔or us, it鈥檚 been a way to build consumer awareness, especially in major metro areas away from our core markets in the mountains.鈥�

Not every apparel brand is likely to be able to offer product on wheels, Sullivan says, because most are dedicated to traditional wholesale models. Nevertheless, at least one major brand鈥擳he North Face鈥攊s dabbling with buy-backs. When contacted, the company declined to elaborate on its policies. 鈥淲hile we don鈥檛 disclose our specific sales programs, we do support our retail partners in a number of ways to ensure our relationship is positive for them,鈥� said The North Face spokesperson Kali Platt. But multiple聽retailers have confirmed that they鈥檝e accepted 鈥渙n wheels鈥� deliveries of The North Face product, such as the high-dollar Summit Series line of alpine apparel.

If so-called pinnacle products are shipping to stores on wheels, that could be enough to tip the entire brick-and-mortar retail model.

The Breakaway

The Big Gear Show goes its own way

The Outdoor Retailer trade show has been the industry鈥檚 reigning conference since 1982, when 93 exhibitors gathered in Las Vegas. But The Big Gear Show has designs on OR鈥檚 dominance: This upstart is planning a new trade show, to stage just weeks after Outdoor Retailer鈥檚 typical Summer Market (and in the very city that OR abandoned, Salt Lake), with exhibitor rates that radically undercut OR. Of course, there鈥檚 no telling yet if anyone will win this showdown or if the industry has an appetite for two shows. Both were canceled this summer because of COVID-19鈥攂ut The Big Gear Show has clearly fired a shot across Outdoor Retailer鈥檚 bow.

The Big Gear Show鈥檚 founders, Darren Bush and Sutton Bacon, both hail from retail鈥攕pecifically the paddling realm (Bush currently owns Rutabaga Paddlesports in Madison, Wisconsin, and Bacon was CEO of the Nantahala Outdoor Center from 2007 to 2018). Convinced that OR had become too expensive and too focused on apparel, they launched the Paddlesports Retailer show in 2017. Buyers liked that the show took place in late summer (rather than in June, which is the busiest month for paddling shops) but they preferred the diversity of brands and traffic that comes with a multisport exhibition like OR. So Bush and Bacon revised Paddlesports Retailer into The Big Gear Show, which includes paddling, cycling, camping, and climbing brands鈥攂ut is limited to hardgoods only.

鈥淪o much of the [outdoor] industry is based around apparel, but that timing doesn鈥檛 work for all aspects of the outdoor industry,鈥� said Kenji Haroutunian, who directed the Outdoor Retailer and Fly Fishing Retailer shows before Bush and Bacon tapped him to direct The Big Gear Show. Tents and kayaks, for example, aren鈥檛 always updated every year (as apparel generally is) and such hardgoods aren鈥檛 always made in Asia, where most apparel gets sewn, which makes lead times shorter. Plus, Haroutunian adds, the buying practices for apparel and hardgoods differ, so most retailers dedicate separate buyers for each category. 鈥淗ardgoods buyers from retail stores can order just a few tents to test how they sell; they don鈥檛 have to buy a whole season鈥檚 worth of jeans and button-down flannels as they would for apparel,鈥� he explained.

By calling out jeans and flannels, Haroutunian hints at the increasingly mainstream character of OR. As that trade show welcomes more streetwear, home furnishings, fashion footwear, and other goods that don鈥檛 qualify as 鈥済ear,鈥� it has ballooned into a much bigger, more generalized production that can seem less relevant to core outdoor brands.

Beyond hardgoods, there are other ways that The Big Gear Show offers a narrower focus than OR. Its target is specialty retail, 鈥渘ot so much the big-box stores or even REI,鈥� said Haroutunian. Nor is The Big Gear Show chasing the biggest manufacturers, he adds. Instead of exhibiting Patagonia and The North Face, says Haroutunian, the show will highlight 50 to 100 smaller brands such as Inno, which makes roof rack systems, and Liberty, a purveyor of water bottles. And those brands will benefit from exposure to consumers, since The Big Gear Show is expected to be partially open to the public, as OR was in its earlier days.

Adaptations to COVID-19 forced The Big Gear Show to reschedule its debut for August 3-5, 2021. In the interim, smaller brands and retailers will have an even greater need to compare ideas for how to survive and overcome this common challenge. Thus COVID-19 is likely to make The Big Gear Show even more relevant.

Retailers are ready for a trade show shakeup. As Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, said, 鈥淭he advent of the Big Gear Show will disrupt the outdoor trade show landscape, giving retailers and brands a large-format show experience for discovery, without the large price tag.鈥�

This story originally ran in the Summer 2020 issue of The Voice.

The post Disrupting the Industry鈥檚 Status Quo appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

This story originally ran in the Summer 2020 issue of The Voice.

Who, exactly, should qualify for a pro deal in the outdoor industry?聽A ski patroller? Full-time mountain guide? Retail employee? Most everyone can agree that these professions get a green light. But how about a seasonal whitewater guide getting a deal on skis or a yoga instructor getting a discount on a tent鈥攇reenish yellow? How about someone who takes an avalanche safety course or an amateur photographer with a nature blog鈥攔ed?

What about average enthusiasts who just claim they do one of the above?

Figuring out who deserves a steep gear discount is crucial to running a successful brand pro program. Connect with the right pros, the theory goes, and a manufacturer helps these influencers do their jobs, while also familiarizing them with the gear and driving full-price sales to local retailers for a win-win. But if standards loosen so much that practically anybody can stock up on gear for 40 percent off or more, then pro deals become something else entirely.

鈥淧ro programs are a complete farce,鈥� said Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming. 鈥淭he idea of a program where you discount to shop employees and people who work in the industry is a solid one. But anybody who鈥檚 being honest about it knows that the programs are completely out of control. It鈥檚 a way for brands to sell direct-to-consumer at a discount without violating their MAP [minimum advertised price] policy. And let鈥檚 be real, there are brands out there encouraging this behavior because they see it as an easy, high-margin sale.鈥�

Without any industry-wide standards or watchdogs for pro programs, it鈥檚 tough to judge how well the system is really working. So we went digging for evidence.

The Broadening Definition of 鈥淧ro鈥�

Employees at The Trail Head, an independent outdoor retailer in Missoula, Montana, run into shoppers with pro deals 鈥渆very single day,鈥� said owner Todd Frank. Sometimes they鈥檙e just showrooming鈥攖rying on boots and apparel in the store before heading off to order their gear directly from brands or on third-party pro platforms. Sometimes they鈥檙e attempting to use a prAna influencer card (good for direct purchases from prAna only) for a discount in the store, not understanding how the program works. Sometimes they鈥檙e getting their new pro-deal skis mounted.

鈥淥ver the last bunch of years, the number of skis we sell has dropped 15 to 30 percent a year, but the number we鈥檙e mounting has gone up,鈥� noted Frank. 鈥淧eople are very open about [getting a pro deal]. It鈥檚 a badge of honor in a community like Missoula. It makes you a legit outdoor guy.鈥�

鈥淟egit鈥� is exactly the point of contention. Who鈥檚 legit? Brands and retailers alike agree that true industry professionals deserve a gear hookup, noting that gigs like ski patrolling, guiding, and wildland firefighting often pay so poorly that these pros would struggle to buy needed equipment. Without pro deals, 鈥渢here鈥檚 no way you could afford this stuff,鈥� said Steve Kunnen, an avalanche forecaster, educator, and guide for Washington鈥檚 Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort, the Northwest Mountain School, and the Northwest Avalanche Center. He considers his pro deals an essential part of his job: This past winter season alone he bought two pairs of Atomic skis and goggles, a Patagonia ski pack, and Arc鈥檛eryx shell pants, all at 40 percent off or more. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 realize you hammer your gear鈥� with daily, hard use, Kunnen said. 鈥淭here鈥檇 be a lot more patches and duct tape without pro deals.鈥�

And in the right hands, pros do serve as valuable influencers. 鈥淚f a retail consumer sees a pro using a product, that鈥檚 a pretty big stamp of approval,鈥� noted Derek Young, who manages the pro program for Sawyer Paddles and Oars.

Getting gear into the hands of specialty retailer employees can also pay off for outdoor stores: Not only is it a valuable perk for recruiting workers, but an enthusiastic recommendation from a shop clerk can drive sales. 鈥淎ll you have to do is walk into [a store] and meet an employee who鈥檚 like, 鈥業 was using this last weekend鈥欌�攖hat鈥檚 hugely positive,鈥� noted Gabe Maier, vice president of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance.

What some retailers do object to, however, is the extension of pro deals to the far margins of the outdoors, such part-time yoga teachers, students enrolled in AIARE avalanche courses, or 鈥渓iterally people who work in the parks department鈥攏ot Yellowstone park, but tennis courts,鈥� said Sunlight Sports鈥檚 Allen. Another gripe: Often, pro members are eligible for discounts well beyond their job categories, as in a backpacking guide also qualifying for ski boots. And some report concerns about straight-up fraud, with faux pros falsely claiming they deserve a deal. Young of Sawyer Paddles and Oars says applicants have sent him snapshots of themselves in a whitewater raft as proof that they鈥檙e professional guides.

Nobody in the industry tracks overall pro purchases, says Grassroots Public Relations and Policy Advisor Drew Simmons, but the organization has heard plenty of anecdotes from its member shops. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an income stream [for brands] that鈥檚 based on promotional, off-price behavior,鈥� Simmons said. 鈥淚t seems to be broadening and growing at a significant pace.鈥� (Several retailers say pro programs really started going off the rails about ten years ago.) Simmons added, 鈥淩etailers are understandably concerned that it has become such a significant part of many brands鈥� businesses that they will have a really hard time reining it in.鈥�

And stores argue there鈥檚 much at stake when pro programs get bloated well beyond their original intention. 鈥淓verybody and their dog 85 has a pro form in a mountain town like ours, when they absolutely should not,鈥� said Brendan Madigan, owner of Tahoe City, California鈥檚 Alpenglow Sports. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e effectively retraining the public to shop online always and first, and to look for discounts online, which makes them think brick-and-mortar stores are always more expensive. Brands are effectively undercutting retailers.鈥�

鈥淚f a product that we sell is readily available from the vendor for 40 to 50 percent less, it makes us look really bad,鈥� added The Trail Head鈥檚 Frank. 鈥淎nd it harms the vendors just as much, because they鈥檙e going to end up with nothing but a discounted sales channel.鈥�

The Middlemen

You can鈥檛 talk pro deals鈥攁nd their potential for abuse鈥攚ithout taking a hard look at third-party pro platforms like ExpertVoice, Outdoorly, Liberty Mountain, and Outdoor Prolink. These businesses partner with brands to manage their pro programs, in many cases vetting applicants, facilitating orders, and providing other services in exchange for a fee and/or a cut of each sale. (Another site, IPA Collective, approves applicants and then connects them directly to brand pro programs.)

Such programs maintain that they help vendors find and vet influencers, and also instruct their pros to send anyone who admires their gear to buy it at a local retailer. 鈥淭he clear reason to have a pro program is to drive more full-price consumer sales,鈥� said ExpertVoice CEO Tom Stockham. 鈥淚t鈥檚 [about] finding the people who have the most credible influence with consumers, and making them better ambassadors for your brand.鈥�

Reps for all platforms we questioned for this article (ExpertVoice, IPA Collective, and Outdoor Prolink) stressed they use strict protocols to evaluate applicants. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not careful with your pro program, you start to undermine your price point and extend discounts too broadly,鈥� said Stockham, who adds that ExpertVoice uses anti-fraud software and cross checks with professional organizations鈥� databases to limit its members to true pros. A spokesperson for Outdoor Prolink noted that the company has five staffers who review the thousand-plus applications it receives weekly (90 percent are accepted, which the company chalks up to clear criteria on its website that weed out unqualified would-be applicants) and requires members to re-certify annually: 鈥淭his ensures that 100 percent of our base [is made up of] vetted professionals.鈥�

Retailers aren鈥檛 buying it. 鈥淭he third-party sites are like drug dealers,鈥� said Allen of Sunlight Sports. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e coming in with this story about how 鈥榳e鈥檙e going to get influencers to push people to your retailers.鈥� That鈥檚 such a bunch of crap.鈥� He argues that third-party shoppers don鈥檛 have any real connection to their local outdoor stores.

Frank adds that the sites鈥� business model encourages them to view applicants with a generous eye. 鈥淸Third-party sites] are making commission sales,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o they鈥檙e going to drive as much volume as possible, because that鈥檚 the only way it works.鈥�

What鈥檚 more, some retailers say their vendors are on board with such everybody-in policies. According to a member of the sales team who worked closely with Black Diamond鈥檚 pro program, left the company within the past year, and asked to remain anonymous, 鈥淯sing ExpertVoice captures a broader audience and requires less in-house maintenance. Yes, ExpertVoice is too lax with who they approve for pro deals, which Black Diamond is acutely aware of. However, it is also a huge revenue driver for the brand.鈥�

In response, the brand shared a statement acknowledging that the pro program isn鈥檛 perfect, but Black Diamond continues to improve its system. It also notes that the brand is a key player in an industry working group on pro sales, which meets to share notes on best practices, including dealing with abuses.

So what鈥檚 the truth behind becoming a pro? We went undercover to find out. In our investigation (see p. 87), the third-party platforms we applied to accepted our fake profiles more often than not. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e willing to lie about who you are, it can be hard to catch someone like that,鈥� noted ExpertVoice鈥檚 Stockham. 鈥淏ut it will happen, and you鈥檒l be kicked off the platform forever. We will always want to work with retailers and others to figure out how to make the system work better.鈥�

Some brands say they recognize the loopholes as well. 鈥淲e are aware of some issues regarding pro/industry purchase sign-up validation and are taking aggressive steps to correct any problems around our internal approval process as well as those of our chosen partners to 鈥� tighten controls in a way that ensures a healthy program,鈥� said Andy Burke, head of commercial sales at Outdoor Research.

Bro Deals鈥攁nd Consequences

In some pro programs, membership comes with an extra perk: periodic discount codes meant to be shared with friends and family, aka the 鈥渂ro deal.鈥� Recent promotions from Patagonia and prAna have offered each of their pros three codes at 40 percent off to share鈥攎uch to the chagrin of the retailer community (Patagonia鈥檚 codes were each good for up to $2,500 worth of gear).

鈥淭he question is, is a friends-and-family program really an extension of the pro purchase influencer program?鈥� asked Grassroots鈥檚 Simmons. 鈥淓xpanding accessibility to everyone you know鈥攊s that supporting the original idea [of a pro program], or is it a whole different area of revenue generation? Friends-and-family promotions seem like the number-one thing to train people to [wait for] a good deal every year.鈥�

Besides, members of a pro鈥檚 social circle could otherwise be full-price customers鈥攕o why offer them deep discounts? According to prAna鈥檚 vice president of marketing, Jeff Haack, 鈥淲e want to give [our influencers] an opportunity to share their love of the brand and products.鈥� (No other brands we approached agreed to comment.)

But retailers suspect otherwise. Allen guesses these promos are a way to unload excess inventory, and Frank said, 鈥淔riends-and-family discounts are prolific because most of the companies are just using them to drive volume. We have a lot of publicly traded companies in the outdoor industry now, and they鈥檙e beholden to the board and the shareholders鈥濃�攚hich means they鈥檙e under pressure to maximize profits every quarter by whatever means necessary.

Ultimately, such complaints about excessive pro deal activity can translate to concrete consequences for brands. Frank dropped Scarpa from The Trail Head last winter: 鈥淭here are people who should not be getting deals from Scarpa who are getting deals every day. Consequently, I just can鈥檛 sell it.鈥� (Scarpa did not reply to our requests for comment.) Allen has similarly scaled back business from several brands so far, and is 鈥渉aving super-hard conversations with鈥� a few others (he declined to name which ones).

And Maier of Grassroots predicts that overly generous pro programs will backfire industrywide. 鈥淚t seems like the programs were created to enhance brand loyalty,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut where the programs are now, all the anecdotal information points to creating price loyalty. Instead of building up brand equity, it鈥檚 having the opposite effect.鈥�

Reining It In

Nobody tracks the precise number of pro program members across the industry鈥� or what percent of total purchases they account for鈥攂ut our investigation shows how easy it is for someone without real credentials to get access to a killer deal. So how can the industry dial back the free-for-all and restore pro programs to their original purpose?

The first, and likely most effective, step: tightening up the vetting process. 鈥淚t would be a huge positive step to get some validation at all levels,鈥� said Maier. 鈥淚f these programs are truly intended to be there for influencers or people who are connected at retail, then what鈥檚 the harm in doing a little more work in verifying who鈥檚 accepted?鈥� Despite assurances from program managers that all applicants must pass strict scrutiny, our undercover investigation proves otherwise: In some cases, fake pros were granted almost instant access using fake credentials.

Instead, managers could require additional documentation if something in an application looks fishy鈥攕uch as professional certifications or, for retail employees, the store鈥檚 invoice number鈥攐r even call someone鈥檚 claimed employer to double-check. Another safeguard for retail employees: Mandate that all purchases be shipped to the store, as Patagonia does. The best-run pro programs also require members to recertify every year, Maier says, so former pros can鈥檛 hang on to their discounts.

And, 鈥渋f there鈥檚 not a direct connection to the local retailer, it doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� said Frank. Many programs do include a note in their acceptance email about sending anyone who admires the gear to their local outdoor shop to make purchases, but there鈥檚 currently no guarantee that members even know which shops carry the products. Young of Sawyer Paddles and Oars says he asks his qualifying pros to send curious clients to specific local shops: 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to build that bridge between the pros and the retailers. Retailers have to trust that manufacturers aren鈥檛 abusing that discounted sales channel.鈥� He even suggests taking the connection a step further: 鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 time for retailers to vet who鈥檚 qualified for programs.鈥�

Wrestling these pro programs back down to size, of course, depends on vendors and third parties actually wanting to limit pro deal purchases鈥攏ot intentionally treating them as a lucrative discount DTC channel, as some retailers contend they do. The current state of pro programs 鈥渋sn鈥檛 a misunderstanding,鈥� said Allen. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not people making a mistake in executing pro deal programs. This is a calculated business practice that people are being dishonest about.鈥�

Patagonia is one brand heeding its dealers鈥� calls for overall reform by embarking on a revamp of its own program. Among other steps, the company is reviewing pro categories and individual members and scrubbing those not deemed to match a stricter set of criteria, plus ending its twice-yearly friends-and-family promotions.

鈥淲e know we can have a deeper connection with fewer pros 鈥� that supports our business in a better way,鈥� noted Patagonia鈥檚 Bruce Old, VP of global business, and John Collins, leader of global sales teams, in a statement to The Voice. 鈥淲e also realize there are too many access points for discounted products in the market.鈥� The fact that the brand is investing in more environmentally and socially responsible鈥攁nd expensive鈥攑roduction practices, they add, helps make its full-price business even more important.

These kinds of brand-led reforms鈥攅ssentially, hiring tougher bouncers for the pro deal club鈥攁re likely key to reducing abuses and maintaining a more exclusive definition of 鈥減ro.鈥� After all, when everybody鈥檚 a pro, then really, nobody is. And that renders a pro program essentially meaningless.

Getting In: An Undercover Investigation

Just how tough鈥攐r easy鈥攊s it to get into a pro program? We went undercover to find out.

Most brands and third-party platforms say their pro programs are for true outdoor industry professionals only, and that applicants are carefully vetted to ensure only the deserving get in. Not everyone believes it.

Industry insiders report concerns about several types of objectionable 鈥減ros.鈥� There are the applicants with questionable outdoor credentials鈥� part-time guides, one-time NOLS students, etc. There are straight-up liars posing as legit pros. And some retailers even charge that platforms will accept absurd applications that are obviously frauds (The Trail Head鈥檚 Todd Frank successfully applied to ExpertVoice as President James Madison).

We tested the system ourselves with three fake personas, complete with bogus credentials, designed to probe brands鈥� defenses against those concerns. 鈥淎pril O鈥橦ara鈥� posed as a retail employee using a free, fake pay stub created online. Yoga instructor 鈥淩ashida Samat鈥� submitted a screen shot of a real teacher鈥檚 online profile that didn鈥檛 include a name. And for our most ridiculous attempt, 鈥淢innie Mouse鈥� applied with a photo of a coffee shop punch card. We tried 11 pro programs (five third-party pro platforms and six brands directly). When admitted, we placed an order and, in all cases, received the gear (items will be donated).

In some cases, our applicants received a green light within a few minutes, suggesting no vetting process or a very limited automated one. In others, someone reviewed the application, but didn鈥檛 probe deeply into our supporting documents. Andy Marker, founder and principal of IPA Collective, who approved our application for 鈥淩ashida Samat,鈥� noted, 鈥淚 saw the [online studio] profile, and on that day, it was good enough for me.鈥�

Ten of the 11 targets rejected Minnie Mouse (Liberty Mountain accepted her without question). But the results were mixed for April and Rashida.

The post The Shady World of Pro Deals appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Words like 鈥済ame changer鈥� and 鈥渄isruptor鈥� get tossed around a little too easily these days, but with FutureLight, its patent-pending new waterproof/breathable technology, The North Face says it has a product to back up those superlatives. In fact, the brand believes so strongly in the material鈥檚 unprecedented breathability that it created an entire manufacturing program around it, including dedicated factory spaces in Korea. Said Scott Mellin, global GM of The North Face鈥檚 Mountain Sports division, 鈥淲e had to develop our own yarn, weaving process, and lamination and finishing techniques. It took us two years to do all of that.鈥�

Moreover, by fall 2020, The North Face will have transitioned all of its higher-end apparel, footwear, and other waterproof/breathable gear in the Mountain Sports lines from Gore-Tex and other third-party vendors to FutureLight (price point items will still use TNF鈥檚 proprietary DryVent, and Gore technologies will still appear in the lifestyle collection).

Even the technology鈥檚 debut was unconventional. The North Face launched it today, not at an outdoor industry event but at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, partnering with BMW Group Designworks for a camping trailer display.

Why all the investment? It鈥檚 partly due to athlete feedback and the desire to find a better solution to the ongoing conundrum of protection versus breathability. And part of it comes from a serious effort at brand differentiation. 鈥淢y job is to create the biggest amount of difference between The North Face and our competitors,鈥� said Mellin, who came on board full-time in January 2017. 鈥淎nd the way to create difference is to step out of the supply chain.鈥�

The FutureLight Technology

At the heart of FutureLight lies an industrial process known as nanospinning. A polymer is sprayed through up to 220,000 tiny nozzles鈥攔ather than being extruded into a thin sheet of film, as most membranes are鈥攖o create a waterproof yet highly porous mesh-like membrane. The construction allows for nanoholes that allow air to pass through and moisture vapor to escape, keeping users dry and comfortable, not clammy and cold. Five different weights of membrane鈥攄epending on how many nozzles are used鈥攁llow designers to tune a garment鈥檚 level of breathability to the type of activity it鈥檚 intended for, added Mellin.

True, some other membranes make use of nanospinning, such as Polartec NeoShell and Outdoor Research鈥檚 AscentShell. But citing stats from TNF-initiated third-party comparison testing, Mellin said that FutureLight outperformed them.

Because the mesh is so delicate, The North Face鈥檚 material science and sourcing teams ended up designing custom face and backing fabrics鈥�56 in all鈥攁s well as a new laminating process to give garments enough structure and shape. Some of these fabrics use higher denier yarn for greater abrasion resistance along with an open weave structure for more air permeability and lighter weight.

It adds a green story to FutureLight, too, as all new fabrics use 100 percent recycled materials. Motivated to increase the sustainability factor even further, The North Face also created a new PFC-free DWR treatment that maintains 80 percent of its water repellency after 80 wash cycles (and requires no consumer applications of water-polluting retreatment).

A bonus byproduct of the technology: FutureLight garments have a remarkably soft, quiet hand and mechanical four-way stretch.

FutureLight Field Testing

North Face athletes have been using FutureLight in extreme conditions around the world, but the real proof is in the numbers, acquired both through in-house and third-party testing. Said Mellin, 鈥淲hat we typically see in most garments is air permeability at 0.01 to 0.1 cubic feet per minute. FutureLight has between 1 to 2 CPM. That鈥檚 the magic zone for allowing heat to dissipate through the garment without affecting its windproofness.鈥� (By comparison, he noted, a soft shell typically has 25 CPM). Underwriters Laboratories, which primarily tests first responder gear, determined that FutureLight exceeds the waterproof standard used for firefighter uniforms.

Retailers who have previewed the product give it high marks, too. Said Wes Allen, owner of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, 鈥淚t鈥檚 the best breathing waterproof/breathable I鈥檝e ever been in.鈥� While having to posthole out of deep snow when snowboarding recently, 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 unzip a thing,鈥� he continued. 鈥淢y goggles fogged, my helmet got really wet, but there wasn鈥檛 a single drop of moisture inside my jacket.鈥�

Will FutureLight Surpass Gore-Tex as the Gold Standard?

How will this new technology affect The North Face鈥檚 longstanding partnership with Gore, which dates back to the 1977 introduction of TNF鈥檚 Mountain Jacket? Mellin said he鈥檚 been forthcoming about the company鈥檚 emerging technology platforms and that The North Face remains committed to using Gore-Tex in its lifestyle division. Yet, he added, 鈥淔utureLight is the most advanced breathable waterproof technology in the world. It鈥檚 a quantum leap forward in performance and sustainability. We firmly believe it is better than Gore-Tex in every technical aspect and provides the consumer with a completely new system of benefits.鈥�

When asked for a statement, Gore responded simply, 鈥淕ore does not engage in speculation about other brand’s technologies nor publicly discuss details of its relationship with licensees.鈥�

For Fall 2019, The North Face will introduce 37 SKUs with FutureLight, including outerwear, single-wall tents, and gloves and mittens. Look for more innovation in different categories down the pipeline.

Is all the hype justified? Noted Allen, 鈥淵ou want to be a little cynical about this鈥攚e鈥檝e all been down this road before鈥攂ut this time I think there鈥檚 actually something really different. I don鈥檛 mean to sound like a complete fan boy, but it鈥檚 great stuff.鈥�

The post Industry Disruption? The North Face Introduces FutureLight appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

When Wes Allen finished college and started working part time at Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, it was supposed to be just a temporary summer gig. Except summer slid into fall, fall slid into winter, and all of a sudden Allen found himself running the show as manager. But it wasn鈥檛 until the holiday season that Allen hit the point of no return.

鈥淪ome girl called and told me that she was coming to work鈥擨 didn鈥檛 even know her,鈥� Allen explained. 鈥淏ut she said, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檓 the owner鈥檚 sister and it鈥檚 the holidays, so you need help and I need money. I鈥檒l be there Tuesday.鈥欌�� Wes and Melissa were married a few years later.

The couple鈥檚 matchmaker, Sunlight Sports, had been founded in 1971 by Bob and Sandy Newsome on the third floor of Bob鈥檚 father鈥檚 western wear business, selling Chouinard hardware and Olin skis. When that went out of business years later, Sunlight expanded downward to fill the building with technical climbing and ski gear.

As Bob and Sandy started looking toward retirement, Wes and Melissa knew they wanted to own the store, but also recognized it wasn鈥檛 that simple. 鈥淲e knew that if we were going to be successful, we had to get out and learn stuff outside of Cody,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e wanted to get out and see the rest of the world and see how different people ran their businesses.鈥�

The pair left Cody and found jobs with REI for nearly ten years, until Wes took a position with Chaco (and eventually Wolverine, at large), with one thing on their mind. 鈥淚t was our goal from the moment we left Cody to buy Sunlight,鈥� Allen said. And eventually, in 2010, they came home and made it happen.

Today, Sunlight sits a block away from its original location and has embraced its placement at the gateway to touristy Yellowstone National Park, selling not-quite-as technical hiking, backpacking, and even family or car camping gear, alongside the more serious stock. According to Allen, 鈥淭here鈥檚 a much bigger piece of the population that comes through Cody that鈥檚 interested in the outdoors, and a much smaller slice of the population that鈥檚 into the hardcore technical expeditions.鈥� So while keeping gear on the shelves for all levels, it鈥檚 the Yellowstone traveler that Sunlight has carved out a niche in catering to.

鈥淓veryone on staff can walk a customer through the process to get a Yellowstone backpacking permit, and give them some first hand advice on a great place to go.鈥�

Yellowstone is a big place and for a lot of visitors, is an intimidating backpacking or hiking destination, which means one of the best products Sunlight can provide is a little guidance. And the best way to do that? According to Allen, it鈥檚 to go backpacking yourself.

During one week in July, the entire Sunlight Sports staff splits in two groups鈥攐ne of which runs the store while the other hits the park for a few days, before trading places. According to Allen, the annual trips come loaded with different benefits. The teams test out new gear they鈥檒l be selling in the store, but the main focus of the trips is on gathering information to help customers plan their own trips.

鈥淟ots of customers plan to go camping in the park but aren鈥檛 sure where. So that鈥檚 what we do,鈥� Allen said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 make reservations. We just show up at the Backcountry Office and see what鈥檚 open then go through the same process our customers will be going through. It gives us a lot of insight that we can share with people when they come into the store.鈥�

Back in the shop, a dedicated hike-planning area filled with maps, books, and other resources becomes a hub of activity during the summer鈥攁ccording to Allen, his staff will assist between 20 and 30 customers a day. Employees, fresh off their own experiences have the knowledge not only of the process, but hikes and trips to suggest from all over the region.

鈥淲e鈥檒l take them back there and tell them our favorite places to go and all of a sudden they have direction, they know where they鈥檙e headed, they mark a map up of options and hopefully they have a much better experience,鈥� Allen said.

鈥淭wo percent of our sales is a relatively meaningful chunk for my family.鈥�

Backpacking trip advice isn鈥檛 the only way Sunlight likes to help the community. The shop donates 2 percent of their sales to locally-based nonprofits that, typically, help get youth outdoors.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just something that we do, it鈥檚 very much the core of our brand identity,鈥� said Allen of what has piled up to more than $200,000 given thus far. And according to him, customers notice. 鈥淲e have a Sierra Trading Post four blocks from us so you can always get stuff on sale in town. But our customers tell us that they come in and will spend more on something because they know the work that we do in the community.鈥�

Shop staff solicits applications from organizations, but do a lot of the searching and discovery themselves. For one annual event, employees hand write invitations to their top 600 customers for a community night in which a handful of nonprofits come to deliver pitches to the whole gathering. 鈥淲e give each of our attendees a poker chip worth $10 and they can go and give that poker chip to the organization that they want to donate it to,鈥� said Allen. Last year, they donated roughly $4,000 during that single event.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not just a collection of brands. We have our own brand and that鈥檚 about the people that live here.鈥�

Another sure-fire way to make your customers feel welcome? Put their faces on your in-store signage. For the last six years, Sunlight has been doing all the photography for its window displays, banners and more in-house, or using photos supplied by customers. According to Allen, customers notice and regularly stop in to see which of their friends is on display this time.

Another piece of Sunlight鈥檚 marketing plan is what Allen refers to as a multi-touchpoint promotional strategy, with a few key partner brands. A current promotion sees Sunlight partnering with Nemo Equipment. Together, the brands produced a piece of content that features some of the best places to camp in the park, with a healthy inclusion of Nemo鈥檚 tents, and even a flowchart that helps readers decide where to go.

From there, the brands advertise the content through geo-targeted social media ads, on signage in-store, and even on a billboard in town. 鈥淭hus far, we鈥檝e had tens of thousands of people look at the content, hundreds of thousands of people drive by the billboard, and in the last week we鈥檝e had 7,200 people walk by the sign in the store,鈥� Allen claimed.

The result? Nemo sales are way up at Sunlight, but Allen says that鈥檚 not entirely the point. 鈥淓ven if a viewer doesn鈥檛 buy a single piece of Nemo gear, they have this take away from the information we鈥檙e providing and if they have a great experience, there鈥檚 a positive association between that, us, and our partner brand,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we can positively associate a brand with that experience, we feel like we鈥檙e delivering some exceptional value to that brand.鈥�

With the number of people passing through Cody and Yellowstone each summer, Sunlight Sports has found a way to reach just about everyone.

The post Retailer Spotlight: Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

If you鈥檙e running a small to medium-sized outdoor brand today, there are so many competing forces trying to shape your business. It鈥檚 easy to freak out and be too scattered in your focus or retreat altogether and stubbornly stick to an old way of doing things.

Neither approach is workable for the long term. The landscape is getting more challenging, and success more elusive. Building an outdoor lifestyle brand you can be proud of, one that鈥檚 enduring and reflects your values, requires good partners and careful route-finding through the chaos.

Small specialty retailers have long been the literal and figurative mountain guides of our industry, the interface with the consumers, the experts on gear and trails. They validate the best gear, carry our product and brand stories to the consumer, build local communities of enthusiasts, and perpetuate the spirit of our industry. They can point you in the right direction to becoming a core, legacy brand. But you have to listen and do them service. Partnerships go both ways. After listening carefully to Wes, here鈥檚 the list I came up with for brands that want healthy long-term relationships with specialty

10 Ways Brands Can Be Better Partners to Small Specialty Retail

1. Make specialty product.

Creating real innovation, bringing it to market, and getting a new and unique story across to the customer is a tough, expensive, and risky investment. If you鈥檙e really doing something new, there鈥檚 no market research to show unequivocally that it鈥檚 going to be a success. But customers don鈥檛 visit specialty stores to see more of the same. They need to discover things they couldn鈥檛 have found much more easily on their smart phone on their couch at home. If you want a thriving partnership with specialty retail you have to create product for them that鈥檚 truly unique and special. Making truly unique and desirable product is the bedrock of success.

2. Have a point of view.

Great brands have a unique point of view and great specialty stores are thoughtfully curated ensembles of these unique voices. To build a great experience for the customer, a store assembles an assortment of products, d茅cor and culture to offer a rich and harmonious experience; each compelling brand and interesting product representing one instrument or well-played note in the orchestra. You can鈥檛 make a great symphony out of just cellos. So your brand has to stand out and contribute something special. And you can鈥檛 buy this from a creative agency鈥t has to come from the soul of your company. The good news is every brand has its own story and collection of personalities. Your identity is special, you just have to dig it up and maybe polish and tune it a bit.

3. Build an iconic and lasting brand.

Specialty retailers need enduring product franchises that give their businesses a modicum of predictability and security; brands that deliver great product and great content over and over again and pull customers through the doors. Their identity and reputation is built, in good part, from the collection of brands they carry and that bond of trust with the customer is something that takes a long time to build and an instant to destroy.

Play the long game if you want to appeal to specialty retail. If you鈥檙e publicly traded or beholden to partners seeking a two- to three-year return on investment and you鈥檙e looking to cash in on your hard-earned brand equity as you move down market in search of top line growth, understand that it will be at the cost of your small specialty relationships, and consider what you鈥檙e giving up. Wes鈥檚 store embodies the spirit of our industry and the lifestyle we have all espoused.

4. Control your discounting.

Train your customer to buy your product on sale and soon they鈥檒l never pay full price. Establish a rigorous MAP (minimum advertised price) policy, run it with an iron fist, and obey your own rules. Don鈥檛 make SMU (special make up) product for the closeout channel. Stop and think about where that鈥檚 headed鈥s your business really sustainable for the long-term on those thin margins and stripped of its aspirational qualities? One thing鈥檚 for certain, the small specialty shop can鈥檛 survive on those margins and the smart ones won鈥檛 try to compete in that rarified environment鈥hey鈥檒l just shut you out.

5. Take the time to sit with and listen to your partners and visit their stores.

It struck me how interconnected and yet different my daily universe is with Wes鈥檚. You鈥檝e had the same thought when you visited your factories鈥hey make your products and yet your worldview is so divergent. Get out there and visit retail. I think you鈥檒l find they sell your stuff, but have a whole different set of challenges and perspectives. If it鈥檚 an especially important account, establish a communication pipeline between the principals.

Sunlight Sports Branded Swag

Sunlight Sports branded notebooks

Sunlight Sports branded bottles

Sunlight Sports co-branded cups

Sunlight also brands hats and tee-shirts

6. Help your partners build their own brand.

Remember that your retailers, the best ones anyway, have their own brands. Respect that their shop has a point of view and identity in the community, a look and feel they have carefully developed and must carefully steward. The storytelling of your fixture program or latest marketing campaign may not fit into the story they鈥檙e trying to tell. At the end of the day, it鈥檚 their orchestra to conduct and the audience will walk out happiest if you just focus on playing your own instrument well.

7. Be transparent.

Don鈥檛 try to sneak things in like influencer programs. It鈥檚 a very flat world we live in today in terms of information. Everyone has astonishing access to everything. Assume you can get away with absolutely nothing. Besides, operating with integrity is always the best long-term play. Come through on your promises. Don鈥檛 change the rules in the middle of the game. Sudden floating mark-down windows, unacknowledged exclusive programs, or changes in distribution mid-stream burn your loyal specialty partners.

8. Have a great website and sell your own products direct.

Wes surprised me on this. He pointed out that these days consumers use their smart phones to do research on the store floor. Your website can be an important component in completing a sale. The key is that you follow your own MAP policy. If the customer clicks to your site and sees a discount in exchange for an email signup, Wes loses a sale. But if they see a great site with wonderful storytelling and everything at full price, with additional technical information and product reviews, you鈥檝e added something to the selling process for Wes and his crew.

9. Seek critical feedback.

This applies not just to your relationships with your retailers, but internally too. Ask what you can be doing better. The world is moving fast. You have to constantly seek good updated intelligence and pivot to stay on course. There is no immutable formula for success.

10. Be choosy when you pick your partners.

Don鈥檛 ship to every account that will sell you鈥攍ike the hardware store down the street. Curation should go both ways. Pick partners that flatter your brand. For example, says Wes, being in Urban Outfitters is great. They鈥檙e making outdoors part of mainstream culture and they鈥檙e portraying it as aspirational. That grows the community of outdoor enthusiasts. But the dispassionate big box store, the faceless online retailer that copy/pastes all your content and gives back nothing to the community, the multifarious country store that shoves a few of your products in the back corner for travelers who forget something at home? Not so much.

Whether these tenets鈥攁nd the ones outlined in my previous article鈥攁re spot-on or not, they are certainly not an exhaustive list. There鈥檚 a lot more, big and small, that makes a shop or a brand thrive these days.

Most of all, it requires passion and conviction. Wes and Melissa aren鈥檛 running a specialty shop because there鈥檚 nothing else they could be doing with their lives. They鈥檙e doing it because they love it. And that applies to me, and making NEMO gear, too. Passion, plus a little grit and hunger for knowledge, can carry you a long way and make you pretty resilient, even in an ever-flattening, hyper-competitive and fast-evolving world.

The Retail Immersion Project is an ongoing OBJ initiative that bridges the gap between outdoor brands and specialty retail by imbedding C-level executives onto the sales floor. By sharing these stories, our goal is to create dialogue that raises important issues and ultimately to work toward solutions that create a healthier outdoor industry.聽

The post The Retail Immersion Project: 10 Ways Brands Can Be Better Partners to Their Retailers appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

It鈥檚 been at least ten years since I鈥檝e been a proper outdoor consumer. I fell in love with ice climbing鈥攁nd about a dozen other outdoor pursuits鈥攚hen I was a freshman in college in 1994. I spent pretty much every spare dollar I had for the next decade assembling my stash of backpacking gear. By the time I started NEMO in 2002, I had only a few dollars in the bank, but I had built myself a versatile kit that was ready for any adventure.

I have always been a gearhead. I kept a hand-written gear list and when I had some money saved, I would drive to Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, Vermont, or International Mountain Equipment in North Conway, New Hampshire. I would consult with the staff, carefully deliberate the specs, then add another Camalot or ice screw to my rack. Between my weekend climbing, my weeknights at the rock gym, and so many visits to OGX and IME, I was a very engaged part of the outdoor industry ecosystem. I was part of the climbing culture, I drove a Subaru wagon, and I could use terms like 鈥渂eta鈥� and 鈥渟end it!鈥� without feeling like an impostor.

When 国产吃瓜黑料 Business Journal editor-in-chief Kristin Hostetter reached out to and asked if I would be interested in an immersive experience in a retail shop, I said yes right away. There鈥檚 a lot of talk about the future of brick and mortar versus online, and small specialty versus big box, and as with everything today, you can find an article or a talking head to support just about anything you want to believe. I wanted to see firsthand a successful small specialty store in action, and I knew exactly who to call.

The first time I walked through the doors of Sunlight Sports in Cody, Wyoming, it struck me immediately as exhibit-like in its curation. It was a bright, sunny morning and my eyes took a moment to adjust, but my nose did not: that classic familiar campfire scent hung in the air. (A stroke of brilliance: sunlight uses a product called Scent::Linq to recreate that wonderfully unmistakable smell.)

There was, front and center, a campfire scene with a circle of chairs around a mock fire pit with an illuminated flickering bandanna of fabric at the center. An outer radius of tents equipped with bags and pads, formed a believable backcountry scene inside the cozy shop. Behind that, a central wedge of stairs rose to an upper-level mezzanine that wrapped the store, dividing and organizing the space into a logical framework.

I was excited to spend the next three days there working alongside the owner, Wes Allen, and his staff. My plan was to interact with customers, observe the daily challenges, then over beers each night brainstorm with Wes about how his customers have evolved over the years and how brands and specialty stores can cooperate to stay relevant in a fast-changing world. My ultimate goal with Wes was to come up with a list of best practices for us, and hopefully other specialty retailers and brands, to follow to keep ourselves relevant in this fast-changing consumer landscape.

The Retail Immersion Project is an OBJ initiative that bridges the gap between outdoor brands and specialty retail by imbedding C-level executives onto the sales floor. By sharing these stories, our goal is to create dialogue that raises important issues and ultimately to work toward solutions that create a healthier outdoor industry.聽

The post The Retail Immersion Project: Cam Brensinger & Sunlight Sports appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.