Opinions vary about closure of Winter Market

DENVER — Keeping all the people happy all of the time is a difficult thing to do; right now the Outdoor Retailer show might settle for keeping half happy in the scheduling of its winter show.

OR recently cancelled its November Winter Market in favor of combining it with its winter show in January, creating a more inclusive event dubbed the Outdoor + Snow Show. While that move was mostly seen as getting a more robust showing from retailers —  the November show was poorly attended last year —  it’s apparent that keeping everyone happy, especially soft-good manufacturers, is a bit of a challenge.

“We did a lot of research in ’16,” said Lisa Ramsperger, OR public relations manager, explaining the original move to a November show. “It was obvious that the soft-good manufacturers (apparel and other accessories) wanted to be in front of the season.”

Making it more confusing was when OR acquired the Snowsports Industries America show in 2018, which was traditionally held in November, and many retailers and manufacturers thought the two winter shows would be combined.  Subsequently OR also moved all its shows to Denver, because of Utah’s stance on public lands.

“We only went to one show; when we’re in season it’s hard to pull people out to attend,” said Hennie Kashiwa, general manager of Boulder Nordic Sports. For the cross-country specialist “the industry is so small we have to be early so we can get anything imported into the U.S.,” but overall he thinks the January event was good enough to cover his bases.

Of course, having the shows in Denver made it easier for Colorado retailers, especially when it was combined with a demo day at Copper Mountain following the show.

“I like having the one show in Denver, but I prefer having the shows in November,” said Matt Burditt, the co-owner of Angles Sports Exchange in Longmont. “As a business owner I’ve never liked the schedule —  right in the middle of season when things are so hot and I’m busy. Personally, I would prefer not to order in January.”

At Outpost Sunsport in Fort Collins, owner Randy Morgan has been dealing with the ins and outs of the snow business for 47 years. He said the industry shows were constantly being moved for the convenience of the manufacturers, including moving the January show so close to the holidays that some retailers had to be traveling during what is the busiest time of year.

“Some of us put our foot down,” said Morgan, a member of one of two major buying groups. “They just keep moving us further and further up,” he said, noting one of the shows used to be in March, when retailers had a very good idea about what equipment was moving.

Dealing with the soft-goods manufacturers at this time of year is difficult, Morgan said. His wife, Nancy, is the shop’s buyer for such goods and has to schedule two-hour sessions with the major dealers, because of the depth of their offerings.

Of course, that’s a good reason to have two winter shows, but Morgan said that probably is not in the cards. One reason for that is no one knows what is selling yet by November, and there are always other variables, such as the weather.

On the manufacturer’s side, Jonathan Degenhardt — senior marketing manager at Deuter USA, headquartered in Boulder and its sister German brand, ORTOVOX —  sees a lot of both sides of the equation.  While Deuter’s backpacks and accessories are all hard goods that lean more to the summer show, ORTOVOX actually pioneered avalanche rescue equipment and has a growing clothing line for skiing and climbing.

Degenhardt is well aware that all manufacturers are competing for factory time, and soft-good manufacturers appear to face a steeper hill. “Every product has a different manufacturing time, but the ski and snowboard (retailers) they want to see what trends have been selling well (before ordering for next year).”

Outdoor Retailer was thinking more of soft-good sales in setting the November event. That allowed manufacturers to get ahead of ordering times on new products, but also allowed for some early season ordering for retailers to finish filling their shelves.

“I think that was the intent,” Degenhardt said. “But obviously with deadlines for manufactures getting earlier, showing up in January is kind of a waste of time for some soft-goods manufacturers.

“But the attendance just wasn’t there,” he continued. “In a lot of people’s minds, the OR and SIA marketplace was the same, and the OR winter market is always in January.

In the end, “it is damned if you do and damned if you don’t,” he said. “Until there is a solutions that hits manufacturers deadlines, supports R&D and also gets retailer buy-in, we’re always going to have this problem.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn