Outdoor Retailer Closes Record-Breaking Winter Market Expo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Outdoor Retailer Closes Record-Breaking Winter Market Expo

San Juan Capistrano, Calif. – January 26, 2011 – Thousands of retail, design and media attendees saw a record-breaking footprint* of the latest outdoor wintersports products at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2011, held January 20-23, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Outdoor Retailer is definitely the place where I can see the most brands within the outdoor space in one area. It’s the best place to find that concentrated group of products,” said Phil Shettig, Podium Sports in Summit County, Colo., as he cruised through the Grand Ballroom area of the show floor.

First time attendee Tricia Kramer, head retail buyer with the Stratton Mountain Resort Village, Vt.echoed a similar endorsement.

“If you’re looking for something new that you can’t find in the action sports market to bring to your customers, you should visit OR,” Kramer said. “[Attending] expanded my impression of “outdoor” to much more than just tents, camping and hiking boots. It really transcends into all markets and audiences. It was not just about the party but a true passion for a lifestyle.”

Consistent with the growth seen at Summer Market, preliminary attendance numbers suggest that the Winter Market show will be up 11 percent and 16 percent for buyer and overall attendance, respectively.

The hum of busy aisles was music to the ears of the manufacturers who made the investment to have a presence at the show.

“It’s [OR] been an interesting phenomenon because people know adidas, but they want to know why they should be looking at adidas Outdoor,” said Greg Thomsen, managing director, adidas Outdoor. “We’ve had an overwhelming response and we couldn’t be happier. This is the only show we’re doing and we’ll be here forever.”

“This was our first non-pet trade show, and we’ve met so many people who want to purchase large numbers of supercollars that we wouldn’t have thought of and wouldn’t have approached on our own,” said Jane Angelich, supercollar CEO. “Our original budget only included exhibiting at Winter Market, but we’ve revised it and now our other show will be OR Summer Market.”

Through new and expanded show programs, Outdoor Retailer engaged show participants in new brands, partners and product intelligence. Show highlights include:

• More than 1,300 buyers hit the slopes for a day of winter sport product previews, hands-on gear testing and outdoor events on nearly a foot of fresh powder at the All Mountain Demo in its new location, Solitude Mountain Resort.

• To better embrace the wilderness areas and adventurers that inspire outdoor recreation, a number of events and films took center stage at the new “OR Presents…” Adventure Theater.

• Living the outdoor lifestyle includes the day-to-day inspirations between the planned adventures. The new OR Rocks! initiative helped connect attendees with the musical, theatrical and cultural events running concurrently with Winter Market.

• During the week of OR, industry influencers broadcasted an insider’s view of the show through 493 new likes, 85,000 page views and 160 post feedbacks to the Outdoor Retailer facebook page. There were also more than 3,000 searchable blog posts, approximately 10,000 downloads of the Outdoor Retailer mobile app and 1,500 tweets tagged with the hashtag #ORshow.**

• Expanding on its pioneering series of web-based innovations, Outdoor Retailer dedicated a special area on the show floor to promote and educate attendees about the new OR Online HUB. The forthcoming OR Online HUB website will allow exhibiting brands to interact with qualified retailers before, during and after the show through a branded online exhibit experience. Retailers will have access to search updated exhibitor information, including comprehensive directories, catalogs and preseason/at-once ordering tools. 

“During the critical buying season, we work hard to provide show features that cut through tradeshow busy work and help attendees focus on strengthening partnerships, developing future strategies and gathering intelligence that they might not see at regional events or through their reps,” said Kenji Haroutunian, Outdoor Retailer show director. “From the Grand Ballroom to the back of the hall, we are hearing really positive things about the show meeting those needs.”

Outdoor Retailer Winter Market will return to the Salt Palace Convention Center, in Salt Lake City, January 19-22, 2012.

* Net-sold square feet for Winter Market was 349,950. This number represents the highest net-sold, square feet for Winter Market.

** As of show close, Sunday January 23, 3:00 p.m.

About Outdoor Retailer

Outdoor Retailer (OR), produced by Nielsen Expositions of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., is a full-service trade show company that creates, markets and produces high-quality expos and educational conferences. OR is the leading outdoor industry business-to-business event management company, bringing together manufacturers, retailers, industry advocates and media to conduct the business of outdoor recreation. Now celebrating more than 25 years of successful events, Outdoor Retailer gathers approximately 40,000 attendees on a semi-annual basis for its Winter and Summer Market shows. To see future dates for both shows, click here.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

Maura Lansford, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x2 (wk)/ 817.929.8123(cell),mlansford@soarcomm.com

Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x1(wk) / 801.597.7515(cell),csmith@soarcomm.com