对季节高度依赖，户外用品行业面临巨大挑战
阿什莉·迪亚兹负责的旺季招聘工作现在本应接近尾声了。迪亚兹是美国科罗拉多州杜兰戈4Corners Riversports公司的管理合伙人。当新冠疫情大流行开始在她所生活的地区肆虐时，她正准备为公司夏季的工作额外招聘20名员工，帮助销售皮划艇、漂流筏和露营用具等。
但后来，为防疫而采取的社交疏离措施要求非必要性行业暂停营业，迪亚兹也很快意识到公司今年的经营情况将会有所不同。她撤下了招聘广告，也不打算在重新开始营业后再度招聘了。相反，迪亚兹和她的商业合作伙伴以及他们的8名全职员工需要努力适应这个夏天里种种无法预知的情况。
当然，新冠疫情爆发之后，户外用品零售商并不是唯一会对业务感到担忧的群体。但价值接近9000亿美元的户外休闲行业对春夏两季高度的依赖性，令新冠疫情这个普遍的问题对该行业而言尤为严峻，也让该行业迫切需要调整发展方向。
可持续发展服装公司Toad&Co的首席执行官戈登·西伯里表示：“让我们的零售商在现在这个时候停业是一件很糟的事。没错，虽然还有假期销售季，但更重要的是，春天是一个很关键的季节。”
但业内人士仍有足够的理由来保持乐观。迪亚兹说：“人们渴望着能去户外。”当然，现在美国各城市的公园和绿道都已经变得有些拥挤了，因为去公园是人们唯一能进行的一项户外休闲活动。美国户外工业协会（OIA）的执行董事利斯·安格布鲁格表示，居家隔离措施取消后，人们早已厌倦了每天用Netflix看电视和电影的生活，自然也有理由期待他们会想去漂流、远足、骑行或者划船。
但是，如果封锁不仅要持续数周，而是数月，很多人原本暂时性的失业变成了永久性失业，那就很难预测消费者会购买什么装备，或是可以负担得起什么样的户外体验了。
受供应链的影响，即将到来的户外活动季的前景变得更加难以预测。桨叶式冲浪板、水瓶、大众自行车等许多户外用品都是在中国制造的。新冠疫情爆发之前就已经有人担心，受额外关税的影响，零售商是否能在夏季采购到可以负担得起的产品。许多商家被敦促提前下单，也曾被提醒可能会出现交付延迟或价格上涨等情况。而当中国的工厂因为新冠疫情而关闭时，这种对短缺的担忧就开始加剧。现在，虽然可能存在几周的延迟，但中国的工厂基本都已经迎头赶上，美国的零售商却已经停业或仅能接受网络订单，而且也不一定有能力接收、存储或销售已经订购的商品。还有一些零售商曾试图通过订购美国制造的免关税装备来规避问题，现在却受到了部分美国制造商临时停业带来的冲击——总部位于威斯康星州的Bending Branches公司就是一个例子，该公司生产同名品牌及Aqua-Bound牌船桨。
因此，零售商开始做出调整。迪亚兹推迟了桨和冷却器之外的所有产品的订单。她不愿直接取消订单，因为产品数量有限，而一旦需求回升，她不希望公司的货架空空如也。但她也不想同时持有过多的装备产品。
投资公司CFRA的股票研究分析师卡米拉·亚努舍夫斯基说：“相比供应，我们现在更担心需求侧的情况。”她主要负责Dick’s Sporting Goods公司等零售商的业务。
Dick’s、REI和沃尔玛等美国最大的体育用品零售商都订购了产品，而且大部分产品都还在货架上待售。美国大部分地区的沃尔玛门店都在正常营业，而其他零售商则纷纷扩大了它们的在线市场。Dick’s在新冠疫情爆发之前就在电子商务渠道方面进行了投资，这也是亚努舍夫斯基和CFRA公司将该公司的股票评为值得“买入”的原因。
得克萨斯州新布朗费尔斯市的Gruene Outfitters公司是一家有着31年历史的户外用品零售商。老板蒂法尼·耶茨几年来一直想为公司建立一个带有网购功能的网站。但由于她同时经营着两家相互关联的户外用品零售公司（Gruene Outfitters主营渔具和户外男装，The Pomegranate主营户外女装和童装），她一直没有足够的时间。自实体店在3月20日因为疫情停业以来，她就开始全力建设公司的网店。虽然存储空间越来越有限，但耶茨还是亲自订购了她认为会在母亲节和阵亡将士纪念日期间售出的产品并负责运送渔具；而她的员工则负责将产品放在网上出售并处理网络订单。虽然这家渔具商店一直吸引着大量的游客，但当地居民也会对其给予大力支持。今年春假的取消意味着人字拖的销量有所减少，这对于销售和存储空间而言都是一个挑战。店铺经理阿什莉·纽曼说：“店里现在有9盒OluKai人字拖，平时早就应该卖出了。”
耶茨表示：“这是我第一次感激电子商务的出现。我喜欢实体店，不喜欢网购，但我现在明白不要把鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里是多么的重要。我们以后会一直经营网店了。”
制造商已经意识到这些零售商所面临的挑战，也在积极开发解决方案。西伯里说：“20年前，是专业零售商给了我们一个机会。”虽然Toad&Co公司通过自己的目录和网店销售产品，但它同时也依赖独立的户外产品零售商来销售其可持续服装。几个月来，Toad&Co一直在致力于解决供应链的问题，甚至在新冠疫情爆发之前就已经意识到必须寻找新的方法来为其零售商提供支持。Toad&Co一直在测试与Rock/Creek公司（总部位于田纳西州的查特怒加市）之间的收入分享计划。通过该计划，Rock/Creek可以获得Toad&Co在线销售额中的一定比例。这项测试也让Toad&Co准备推出几项不同的举措，其中的一项是，实体店暂停营业的零售商可以选择从某些订单中获得30%的销售额作为到期余额的抵免或是支票。
位于奥斯汀的Duck Camp公司以及博尔德的EcoVessel公司等制造商也推出了类似的促销活动。总部位于科罗拉多州斯廷博特斯普林斯的Hala Gear则罕见地在季前为零售商提供15%的充气桨叶式冲浪板销售额，但该销售额只能通过该品牌的实体店获得，而不能通过其网店分得。正如许多独立书店和餐馆的支持者所做的那样，许多户外制造商正在使用“#saveyourshop”（帮助你的商店）和“#saveyourlocalgearshop”（帮助本地装备商店）等社交网络标签来支持他们的零售商。
但西伯里还想要做得更多。他说：“现在不是恐慌的时候，而是应该齐心协力，做全面、长远的规划。”在户外工业协会的支持下，他鼓励各品牌停止通过自身电商网站打折，而是在6月和7月之间保持价格稳定。他建议，如果制造商必须打折，应将折扣转嫁给零售商，这样它们就可以在不削减自身利率的前提下为消费者降价。户外工业协会还建议制造商推迟秋季商品的交付，以便零售商在重新开业后能迎头赶上。
西伯里表示：“刺激计划至少给了人们一些保证。”他还指出，对部分零售商来说，直接面向消费者的网上户外装备订单仍占正常订单的75%。但像Gruene Outfitters这样已经停业的专业零售商还面临着冬季库存的问题，这些库存本应在今年春天打折出售。
马萨诸塞州普利茅斯MTI救生衣公司的女式个人漂浮设备主管莉莉·科尔比说：“虽然我们希望人们能在这段时间里通过去户外进行水上运动找到乐趣，并在一定程度上释放压力，但不幸的是，对于主要零售商以及我们这些供应商来说，短期前景并不乐观。我们的仓库里堆满了Dick’s Sporting Goods和REI等大客户暂缓购入的商品，也不太可能通过mtilifejackets.com进行消费者直销来弥补这一销量。”科尔比对行业的季节性表示担心，也担忧这家有着29年历史的企业没有足够的流动性来维持到2021年。
户外工业协会的安格布鲁格也认为，户外用品专卖店可能要到明年才会真正开始面对今年的停业和供应链中断造成的影响。她说：“2021年可能会出现产品的短缺，或者如果我手上还有2020年春季的产品没有售出，我是否应该留着它们，等到2021年再卖？我们的产品是否会在市场上造成供过于求的情况？供应商和制造商最不想看到的情况，就是失去自己的零售商。”
即便在中国的工厂因为新冠疫情而停工并推迟今年春夏两季运动用品的发货时间之前，户外用品业就已经开始为户外工业协会的国际贸易经理小理查德·W·哈珀口中“已经很高的关税”而感到担心：“当你在背包现有的17.6%的关税基础上再加征25%的关税，这样的成本就很难承担了。”部分制造商原本计划去海外考察中国以外的生产地，以应对关税带来的压力，但这些旅行计划也因为新冠疫情引发的旅行限制和感染担忧而推迟了。
暂缓支付进口关税并不是刺激计划的一部分，但哈珀等人希望政府可以允许90天的延期，以帮助制造商进行调整。
EcoVessel的首席执行官乔恩·福克斯说：“我们早在1月就开始遇到供应问题。”EcoVessel在中国生产可持续水瓶。新冠疫情在中国的爆发不仅导致了一场音乐节推迟举行，也导致了音乐节定制水瓶订单的延迟。福克斯雇了两名司机，负责将水瓶以最快的速度从港口运往音乐节现场。但水瓶在音乐节开始后的第二天中午才送达，EcoVessel则在音乐节的第一天供应了可降解啤酒杯。
草根户外联盟（Grassroots Outdoor Alliance）是一家有着73家零售商会员（代表美国各地的130家门店）的行业贸易协会。该协会的零售商关系经理达娜·豪指出，协会大多数会员都报告说它们可以在网上订购到所需的商品，但冻干食品是个例外，因为这类商品的需求出现了全面上升。但同时，协会会员预计它们会对2021年的订单采取更加谨慎的态度——这一过程通常从6月起开始（这也是西伯里敦促制造商考虑推迟时间规划的原因之一）。
像西伯里和户外工业协会一样，草根户外联盟也建议制造商延迟发票上的日期，将收到的订单设置为“发货前致电确认”的状态，并去除订单取消和搁置限制。但达娜·豪知道这是不可能的。“很多制造商很支持这些要求，但户外用品行业的很多供应商也都是小公司，在帮助解决其中一些要求方面存在一定的困难。”
尽管如此，户外用品行业一般不会受到经济衰退的影响，行业倡导者也对此持乐观态度。4Corners公司的迪亚兹说：“几年前我们经历过一场严重的危机，现在还在恢复期。但我们可以走出任何一种困境并回到我们挚爱的事业中来，帮助消费者重返水上运动。”（财富中文网）
译者：张翯
阿什莉·迪亚兹负责的旺季招聘工作现在本应接近尾声了。迪亚兹是美国科罗拉多州杜兰戈4Corners Riversports公司的管理合伙人。当新冠疫情大流行开始在她所生活的地区肆虐时，她正准备为公司夏季的工作额外招聘20名员工，帮助销售皮划艇、漂流筏和露营用具等。
但后来，为防疫而采取的社交疏离措施要求非必要性行业暂停营业，迪亚兹也很快意识到公司今年的经营情况将会有所不同。她撤下了招聘广告，也不打算在重新开始营业后再度招聘了。相反，迪亚兹和她的商业合作伙伴以及他们的8名全职员工需要努力适应这个夏天里种种无法预知的情况。
当然，新冠疫情爆发之后，户外用品零售商并不是唯一会对业务感到担忧的群体。但价值接近9000亿美元的户外休闲行业对春夏两季高度的依赖性，令新冠疫情这个普遍的问题对该行业而言尤为严峻，也让该行业迫切需要调整发展方向。
可持续发展服装公司Toad&Co的首席执行官戈登·西伯里表示：“让我们的零售商在现在这个时候停业是一件很糟的事。没错，虽然还有假期销售季，但更重要的是，春天是一个很关键的季节。”
但业内人士仍有足够的理由来保持乐观。迪亚兹说：“人们渴望着能去户外。”当然，现在美国各城市的公园和绿道都已经变得有些拥挤了，因为去公园是人们唯一能进行的一项户外休闲活动。美国户外工业协会（OIA）的执行董事利斯·安格布鲁格表示，居家隔离措施取消后，人们早已厌倦了每天用Netflix看电视和电影的生活，自然也有理由期待他们会想去漂流、远足、骑行或者划船。
但是，如果封锁不仅要持续数周，而是数月，很多人原本暂时性的失业变成了永久性失业，那就很难预测消费者会购买什么装备，或是可以负担得起什么样的户外体验了。
受供应链的影响，即将到来的户外活动季的前景变得更加难以预测。桨叶式冲浪板、水瓶、大众自行车等许多户外用品都是在中国制造的。新冠疫情爆发之前就已经有人担心，受额外关税的影响，零售商是否能在夏季采购到可以负担得起的产品。许多商家被敦促提前下单，也曾被提醒可能会出现交付延迟或价格上涨等情况。而当中国的工厂因为新冠疫情而关闭时，这种对短缺的担忧就开始加剧。现在，虽然可能存在几周的延迟，但中国的工厂基本都已经迎头赶上，美国的零售商却已经停业或仅能接受网络订单，而且也不一定有能力接收、存储或销售已经订购的商品。还有一些零售商曾试图通过订购美国制造的免关税装备来规避问题，现在却受到了部分美国制造商临时停业带来的冲击——总部位于威斯康星州的Bending Branches公司就是一个例子，该公司生产同名品牌及Aqua-Bound牌船桨。
因此，零售商开始做出调整。迪亚兹推迟了桨和冷却器之外的所有产品的订单。她不愿直接取消订单，因为产品数量有限，而一旦需求回升，她不希望公司的货架空空如也。但她也不想同时持有过多的装备产品。
投资公司CFRA的股票研究分析师卡米拉·亚努舍夫斯基说：“相比供应，我们现在更担心需求侧的情况。”她主要负责Dick’s Sporting Goods公司等零售商的业务。
Dick’s、REI和沃尔玛等美国最大的体育用品零售商都订购了产品，而且大部分产品都还在货架上待售。美国大部分地区的沃尔玛门店都在正常营业，而其他零售商则纷纷扩大了它们的在线市场。Dick’s在新冠疫情爆发之前就在电子商务渠道方面进行了投资，这也是亚努舍夫斯基和CFRA公司将该公司的股票评为值得“买入”的原因。
得克萨斯州新布朗费尔斯市的Gruene Outfitters公司是一家有着31年历史的户外用品零售商。老板蒂法尼·耶茨几年来一直想为公司建立一个带有网购功能的网站。但由于她同时经营着两家相互关联的户外用品零售公司（Gruene Outfitters主营渔具和户外男装，The Pomegranate主营户外女装和童装），她一直没有足够的时间。自实体店在3月20日因为疫情停业以来，她就开始全力建设公司的网店。虽然存储空间越来越有限，但耶茨还是亲自订购了她认为会在母亲节和阵亡将士纪念日期间售出的产品并负责运送渔具；而她的员工则负责将产品放在网上出售并处理网络订单。虽然这家渔具商店一直吸引着大量的游客，但当地居民也会对其给予大力支持。今年春假的取消意味着人字拖的销量有所减少，这对于销售和存储空间而言都是一个挑战。店铺经理阿什莉·纽曼说：“店里现在有9盒OluKai人字拖，平时早就应该卖出了。”
耶茨表示：“这是我第一次感激电子商务的出现。我喜欢实体店，不喜欢网购，但我现在明白不要把鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里是多么的重要。我们以后会一直经营网店了。”
制造商已经意识到这些零售商所面临的挑战，也在积极开发解决方案。西伯里说：“20年前，是专业零售商给了我们一个机会。”虽然Toad&Co公司通过自己的目录和网店销售产品，但它同时也依赖独立的户外产品零售商来销售其可持续服装。几个月来，Toad&Co一直在致力于解决供应链的问题，甚至在新冠疫情爆发之前就已经意识到必须寻找新的方法来为其零售商提供支持。Toad&Co一直在测试与Rock/Creek公司（总部位于田纳西州的查特怒加市）之间的收入分享计划。通过该计划，Rock/Creek可以获得Toad&Co在线销售额中的一定比例。这项测试也让Toad&Co准备推出几项不同的举措，其中的一项是，实体店暂停营业的零售商可以选择从某些订单中获得30%的销售额作为到期余额的抵免或是支票。
位于奥斯汀的Duck Camp公司以及博尔德的EcoVessel公司等制造商也推出了类似的促销活动。总部位于科罗拉多州斯廷博特斯普林斯的Hala Gear则罕见地在季前为零售商提供15%的充气桨叶式冲浪板销售额，但该销售额只能通过该品牌的实体店获得，而不能通过其网店分得。正如许多独立书店和餐馆的支持者所做的那样，许多户外制造商正在使用“#saveyourshop”（帮助你的商店）和“#saveyourlocalgearshop”（帮助本地装备商店）等社交网络标签来支持他们的零售商。
但西伯里还想要做得更多。他说：“现在不是恐慌的时候，而是应该齐心协力，做全面、长远的规划。”在户外工业协会的支持下，他鼓励各品牌停止通过自身电商网站打折，而是在6月和7月之间保持价格稳定。他建议，如果制造商必须打折，应将折扣转嫁给零售商，这样它们就可以在不削减自身利率的前提下为消费者降价。户外工业协会还建议制造商推迟秋季商品的交付，以便零售商在重新开业后能迎头赶上。
西伯里表示：“刺激计划至少给了人们一些保证。”他还指出，对部分零售商来说，直接面向消费者的网上户外装备订单仍占正常订单的75%。但像Gruene Outfitters这样已经停业的专业零售商还面临着冬季库存的问题，这些库存本应在今年春天打折出售。
马萨诸塞州普利茅斯MTI救生衣公司的女式个人漂浮设备主管莉莉·科尔比说：“虽然我们希望人们能在这段时间里通过去户外进行水上运动找到乐趣，并在一定程度上释放压力，但不幸的是，对于主要零售商以及我们这些供应商来说，短期前景并不乐观。我们的仓库里堆满了Dick’s Sporting Goods和REI等大客户暂缓购入的商品，也不太可能通过mtilifejackets.com进行消费者直销来弥补这一销量。”科尔比对行业的季节性表示担心，也担忧这家有着29年历史的企业没有足够的流动性来维持到2021年。
户外工业协会的安格布鲁格也认为，户外用品专卖店可能要到明年才会真正开始面对今年的停业和供应链中断造成的影响。她说：“2021年可能会出现产品的短缺，或者如果我手上还有2020年春季的产品没有售出，我是否应该留着它们，等到2021年再卖？我们的产品是否会在市场上造成供过于求的情况？供应商和制造商最不想看到的情况，就是失去自己的零售商。”
即便在中国的工厂因为新冠疫情而停工并推迟今年春夏两季运动用品的发货时间之前，户外用品业就已经开始为户外工业协会的国际贸易经理小理查德·W·哈珀口中“已经很高的关税”而感到担心：“当你在背包现有的17.6%的关税基础上再加征25%的关税，这样的成本就很难承担了。”部分制造商原本计划去海外考察中国以外的生产地，以应对关税带来的压力，但这些旅行计划也因为新冠疫情引发的旅行限制和感染担忧而推迟了。
暂缓支付进口关税并不是刺激计划的一部分，但哈珀等人希望政府可以允许90天的延期，以帮助制造商进行调整。
EcoVessel的首席执行官乔恩·福克斯说：“我们早在1月就开始遇到供应问题。”EcoVessel在中国生产可持续水瓶。新冠疫情在中国的爆发不仅导致了一场音乐节推迟举行，也导致了音乐节定制水瓶订单的延迟。福克斯雇了两名司机，负责将水瓶以最快的速度从港口运往音乐节现场。但水瓶在音乐节开始后的第二天中午才送达，EcoVessel则在音乐节的第一天供应了可降解啤酒杯。
草根户外联盟（Grassroots Outdoor Alliance）是一家有着73家零售商会员（代表美国各地的130家门店）的行业贸易协会。该协会的零售商关系经理达娜·豪指出，协会大多数会员都报告说它们可以在网上订购到所需的商品，但冻干食品是个例外，因为这类商品的需求出现了全面上升。但同时，协会会员预计它们会对2021年的订单采取更加谨慎的态度——这一过程通常从6月起开始（这也是西伯里敦促制造商考虑推迟时间规划的原因之一）。
像西伯里和户外工业协会一样，草根户外联盟也建议制造商延迟发票上的日期，将收到的订单设置为“发货前致电确认”的状态，并去除订单取消和搁置限制。但达娜·豪知道这是不可能的。“很多制造商很支持这些要求，但户外用品行业的很多供应商也都是小公司，在帮助解决其中一些要求方面存在一定的困难。”
尽管如此，户外用品行业一般不会受到经济衰退的影响，行业倡导者也对此持乐观态度。4Corners公司的迪亚兹说：“几年前我们经历过一场严重的危机，现在还在恢复期。但我们可以走出任何一种困境并回到我们挚爱的事业中来，帮助消费者重返水上运动。”（财富中文网）
译者：张翯
Ashleigh Diaz should be wrapping up hiring for her busy season about now. When the coronavirus pandemic really took hold in her area, Diaz, the managing partner at 4Corners Riversports, based in Durango, Colo., was on track to finding the additional 20 employees she needs each summer to help sell kayaks, rafts, and camping gear.
But then COVID-19-related nonessential business shutdowns started, and Diaz quickly realized things were going to be different. She took down her job ads, and, when she can finally reopen her business, doesn’t plan on reposting. Instead, Diaz and her business partners, along with their staff of eight year-round employees, will adapt to what is going to be an unpredictable summer.
Outdoor retailers, of course, aren’t alone in their concern about business in the wake of COVID-19. But the nearly $900 billion outdoor recreation industry’s heavy reliance on the spring and summer seasons makes the common issues particularly acute, and the need to pivot immediate.
“It is a terrible time for our retailers to be shut down,” says Gordon Seabury, CEO at Toad&Co, a sustainable clothing company. “Yes, there’s a holiday cycle, but much more, spring season is the big season.”
There are some reasons to be optimistic: “People are gung ho to go outside,” Diaz says. Certainly, cities across the country are seeing their parks and greenways crowded, as being outside is one of the only permitted pastimes. When shelter-in-place orders are lifted, it is reasonable to expect that people will want to raft, hike, bike, and paddle, having exhausted all their Netflix streaming, says Lise Aangeenbrug, executive director of the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA).
But if lockdowns last months, rather than weeks, and temporary unemployment becomes permanent, it is harder to predict what gear consumers will buy and what outdoor experiences they will be able to afford.
Pulling out a crystal ball to understand the coming outdoor season is further clouded because of supply chain issues. Many outdoor products—including paddleboards, water bottles, and mass-market bikes—are made in China. Even before COVID-19 there were concerns about retailers getting affordable products for the summer season, owing to additional tariffs, and many had been urged to place orders in advance or expect delays and price hikes. When Chinese factories shut down as a result of COVID-19, concerns about shortages continued to mount. Now, Chinese factories have largely caught up, albeit with a few weeks’ delay, but U.S. retailers are closed, or open for online sales only, and don’t necessarily have the ability to receive, store, and sell what they’ve ordered. Retailers who thought they were avoiding one problem by ordering tariff-free U.S.-made gear are getting whacked by the temporary closure of some manufacturers, like the Wisconsin-based Bending Branches, maker of its namesake and Aqua-Bound paddles.
So retailers are adjusting. Diaz delayed her orders for everything except oars and coolers. She doesn’t want to cancel them outright, because products are limited, and if demand comes back, she doesn’t want her shelves to be bare, but she also doesn’t want to get stuck with too much gear that she can’t move.
“We are more concerned about demand versus supply,” says Camilla Yanushevsky, an equity research analyst at investment firm CFRA, who covers Dick’s Sporting Goods and other retailers.
Big retailers, like Dick’s, REI, and Walmart, the country’s largest sporting goods retailer, have their orders in and, for the most part, on the shelves. Walmart remains open in most communities, thanks to its essential grocery business, and other large retailers have amped up their online marketplaces. Dick’s pre-COVID-19 investment in its e-commerce channel is why Yanushevsky and CFRA rate it a “buy.”
At the 31-year-old Gruene Outfitters in New Braunfels, Texas, setting up a website with an e-commerce component had been on owner Tiffany Yeates’s mind for several years. But while running two connected outdoor retailers (Gruene Outfitters is the fly shop and men’s clothing store; The Pomegranate carries women’s and kids’ clothing), she never had the time. Since shuttering their brick-and-mortar doors on March 20, she has gone full force on setting up as an online retailer. Yeates personally is receiving the shipments of product she thought would sell for Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, although space is getting tight, as well as delivering fishing gear herself while her staff puts products online and works on processes for online orders. While the shops get a lot of tourist activity, locals do support the fly shop. But the lack of spring breakers this year meant fewer flip-flop sales, and that’s a challenge for both sales and space. “We have nine boxes of OluKai flip-flops we’d normally be mowing through right now,” says store manager Ashlee Newman.
“This is the first time I have appreciated e-commerce,” Yeates says. “I appreciate the physical store, and I don’t like online shopping, but I see how it is important not to have all your eggs in one basket. We will always have an online store now.”
Manufacturers are aware of the challenges facing these retailers, and they’re trying to develop solutions. “It was specialty retailers who took a chance on us 20 years ago,” Seabury says. While Toad&Co sells through its own catalog and online shop, it also relies on independent outdoor retailers to sell its sustainable clothing. Toad&Co had been working on supply chain issues for months, and even pre-COVID-19 knew they might have to figure out new ways to support their retailers. The company had been testing a revenue-sharing program with Chattanooga-based Rock/Creek, that would give the retailer a percentage of corporate online sales. The test prepared Toad&Co to roll out several different initiatives, including one where retailers who have temporarily closed their brick-and-mortar doors can opt in to get 30% of sales from certain orders, either as a credit on balances due or as a check.
Other manufacturers are offering similar promotions, including Austin-based Duck Camp and EcoVessel of Boulder. Hala Gear, based in Steamboat Springs, Colo., is offering retailers a rare preseason boost of 15% from the sale of its inflatable paddleboards, but only through the brand’s brick-and-mortar shops, not through its own online store. Many outdoor manufacturers are using hashtags such as #saveyourshop and #saveyourlocalgearshop to bolster their retailers just as supporters of independent bookstores and restaurants have.
But Seabury wanted to go beyond that. “This is not time to panic, but rather to work together collectively and thoughtfully,” he says. With the support of OIA he is encouraging brands to stop discounting product via their e-commerce sites and, instead, to hold prices steady through June or July. If manufacturers must discount, he recommends passing that discount on to retailers, so that they can cut prices for consumers without cutting into their margins. OIA is also recommending that manufacturers push back delivery of fall merchandise so that retailers can catch up once they reopen.
“The stimulus package is at least giving people some surety,” Seabury says, noting that online orders for gear direct to consumers have remained as high as 75% of what’s normal for some retailers. But shuttered specialty retailers, like Gruene Outfitters, are faced with winter inventory that would have sold on sale this spring.
“While we hope that people will be able to find enjoyment and some stress release in getting outdoors and on the water during this time, unfortunately the short view looks grim for Main Street retailers and those of us who supply them,” says Lili Colby, chief PFDiva at MTI Life Jackets of Plymouth, Mass. “We have a warehouse full of product that our largest customers—Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI—have put the brakes on. It’s unlikely that we can make up this volume through our consumer direct sales on mtilifejackets.com.” Colby is concerned about the seasonality of the industry, and the fact that the 29-year-old business may not have the liquidity to see it through to 2021.
OIA’s Aangeenbrug agrees that outdoor specialty shops might not truly face the fallout from this year’s temporary closures and supply chain disruptions until next year. “There might be a shortage of product in 2021, or if I still have product from spring 2020 and haven’t sold it, do I keep that and sell that in 2021? Are we going to have a glut of product in the market? If you are a supplier or manufacturer the last thing you want to do is lose your retailers,” she says.
Even before COVID-19 temporarily shuttered factories in China and delayed shipments of sporting goods leading up to the spring and summer season, the outdoor industry was already pushing back on what Richard W. Harper Jr., manager of international trade for OIA, calls already high tariffs: “When you place a 25% tariff on top of an existing 17.6% tariff on a backpack, it is hard to try to absorb those costs.” Some manufacturers had planned overseas trips to look at alternatives to production in China in response to the latest tariffs, but those trips were postponed owing to coronavirus travel restrictions and concerns.
Suspension of payment on import duties was not part of the stimulus package, but Harper and others hope that a 90-day delay could be passed administratively to help manufacturers adjust.
“Initially, we were having supply issues in January,” says Jon Fox, CEO of EcoVessel, which produces its sustainable water bottles in China. One music festival got delayed because of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, and an order of custom cups was delayed. Fox hired two drivers to hightail it from the port to the festival. They arrived in the middle of the second day of the festival; EcoVessel supplied compostable beer cups for the first day.
Dana Howe, retailer relations manager at Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, a trade association with 73 retailer members (representing 130 stores nationwide), says most members are reporting that they can get what they need for online sales, save for items like freeze-dried foods, because demand is up across the board. But they do expect they will be more conservative in what they order for 2021, a process that typically starts in June (and one of the reasons Seabury is urging manufacturers to consider pushing back this timeline).
Like Seabury and OIA, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance is asking manufacturers to extend dates on invoices, place incoming orders on “call before ship” status, and remove order cancellation and hold restrictions. But Howe knows that may not be possible. “While many have been very supportive of these requests, lots of vendors in the outdoor industry are small companies, too, and have greater difficulty in helping with some of those asks.”
Still, the outdoor industry tends to be recession-proof, and its advocates are optimistic. “A couple of years ago we had a huge drought, and we are still recovering from that,” says 4Corners’ Diaz. “But we can crawl out of any hole and get back to what we love, getting people back on the water.”
