Tips for retailers

Camping equipment sell well in outdoor

South African consumers seemed to have opted for the healthier close-to-nature camping option, rather than a luxury hotel stay, over the past Christmas holiday season. That is, if the higher demand for outdoor products is a reflection of holiday choice.

The downturn in the economy could be the reason why more outdoor retailers were pleasantly surprised by holiday sales, compared to sport as well as footwear and clothing specialists, who were more disappointed with their Christmas sales. More than two-thirds of the outdoor retail respondents (64%) in the annual Sports Trader survey of December holiday sales, reported higher sales than the year before in Rand value.

Nearly three-quarters of the outdoor retailers said that their customers tended to buy more higher-priced functional items (like tents, backpacks etc..) instead of lower-priced items.

Outdoor customers were also not shy to buy luxury items like GPS’ and binoculars. And they wanted top of the range products from well-known brand names — less than a third (29%) of the retailers said that their customers would opt for a cheaper brand in these luxury items. The customer preference for the most well-known brand name also translated into good sales for the new Leatherman Skeletool.

Interestingly, when buying footwear and clothing, customers also opted for the well-known brand names, although brands offering mid-priced models were more popular than the expensive top of the range ones. There was also a growing demand for ladies outdoor clothing.

Camping equipment popular

Camping equipment was very popular — and 86% of the outdoor retailer respondents said that their customers were interested in smaller, innovative camping accessories.

Some of the specific camping accessories products that sold well are interesting functional items like Sea to Summit accessories (left), items from the Coghlan range, PicQuic screwdrivers and two-way radios.

Interesting new recreational games, for example the Waboba ball that bounces on water, were also well supported.

The fact that most customers bought items for their personal use instead of as gifts, seems to support the assumption that people went camping during this past holiday season — or stayed at home where they enjoyed participating in outdoor activities.

This is supported by reports that inland stores tended to do better than coastal towns — and that far fewer people visited the popular holiday destinations, or at least, didn’t shop there.

If consumers are indeed heading for the outdoors and taking up camping, this would be good news for this segment during the rest of the year as well.