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RESEARCH

Together we are catalysts for insight

OIA members, access your research library here:

understand the markets & people You serve

To help our members better understand the markets and people they serve, OIA sponsors and originates industry-leading research and gathers expert perspectives on participation trends, market forces, consumer insights, and more.

We work with multiple sources and leverage deep industry connections to provide the most focused and trusted view of our consumers. And we act swiftly to point our industry in a direction that’s aligned with our collective values: inclusive participation, access to safe recreational opportunities, pragmatic trade policies, and a healthy ecosystem.

Consumer Insights

Annual Outdoor Participation Trends Report

In our industry’s comprehensive, go-to “report card,” OIA sources and gleans insights to uncover narratives around who’s doing what, when, and how outdoors. We create thoughtful stories in custom, easy-to-digest formats that help our members build or evolve business strategies, targeted product road maps, and marketing plans for target customer alignment and better business outcomes.

Member Benefits

For the industry at large, OIA delivers key takeaways on our website. Our members get exclusive access to the full report that has insights to help them:

  • Better understand consumer behaviors and motivations, define target markets, and stay abreast of trends like increasing diversity, youth participation, outing frequency, core consumer and casual consumer differentials, and gateway segments.
  • Get information on the size and demographics of the outdoor participant base along with the clear definitions and hard numbers often required by investors, policy makers, and emerging or established business owners.
  • OIA Leadership members get early VIP access to the full report.

Self-Serve Data Dashboard

For members-only, OIA provides a self-serve research dashboard on full participation trend data for 40 outdoor activities that is available 24/7/365. Members can create custom queries on single sports and activities or build a bundle of queries across categories. 

Access is unlimited to Leadership member and additional fees for other membership types.

Market intelligence

Outdoor retail sales trends

The outdoor industry landscape is changing, and OIA is here to help with timely insights to grow your brand. We’ve partnered with Circana, formerly NPD, to provide members with retail sales trends in chain, e-commerce, and specialty retail channels across all outdoor product categories, including apparel, footwear, equipment, and accessories. Gain a comprehensive and exclusive view of outdoor industry retail sales data to help you make informed decisions, adapt quickly to market trends, and drive revenue growth.

Member Benefits

Use best-in-class data to drive growth, all while saving tens of thousands in value. When you join OIA, you get access to: 

  • Timely and comprehensive retail sales trends data access

  • On-demand education and training resources

  • In-depth analysis from OIA experts

Outdoor Brand Benchmarking Study

For a limited time, you can join OIA’s new benchmarking study for outdoor brands and gain full access to the Outdoor Brand Benchmarking Report, which delivers key finance and business operations benchmarks and insights into best practices across all major business functions. Know where you stand versus the competition in a dynamic market and make informed decisions to drive growth and profitability.

Study Participants Receive:

  • Financial Performance: Key financial ratios and detailed indicators across Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statements, such as revenue growth, profit margins, inventory turnover, and cash cycle.
  • Business Operations: Benchmarks focus on metrics such as SKU count, sales channel mix, marketing mix and ROI, sourcing mix, number of employees, and sales per employee.

  • Actionable Best Practices: Tailored strategies cover revenue and profit optimization, asset management, marketing and sales, sourcing and manufacturing, employee productivity, and innovation.

  • Targeted Insights: Groupings by company size and product line help pinpoint opportunities within specific industry segments and compared to top performers.

State of the Outdoor Market Reports

Each fiscal quarter, OIA members get timely insight into the economic conditions of the market, consumer trends, retail sales, and other information that helps them stay competitive and relevant. Gain insight on topics including consumer awareness and behaviors, market trends and opportunities, market and sales predictions, and holiday season projections. 

Research Roundup

Stay up to date with the most current market intelligence throughout the year with relevant monthly insights and market trends. Research Roundup includes a thorough examination of outdoor consumer segments—a must-have for anyone interested in the intricacies of consumer behavior, attitudes, and perceptions related to outdoor recreation. It’s also key for marketing teams that want an edge in their message targeting.

Ask-an-expert Research

For members who don’t have the dedicated time or resources to conduct and apply targeted market intelligence, we leverage our access to multiple sources of data and market expertise to deliver the specific insights they need, when they need them.

Member Benefits

Leadership members get unlimited queries, and Support+ members get one query per year.

Here are a few examples of the kinds of reports our members have requested:

  • Segment consumers using specific parameters such as “women hikers living in the Pacific region with income over $100K who participate more than 30 times each year and enjoy target shooting.”
  • Provide data for the outdoor sock market showing participation trends for hiking, ski, snowboard, and camp, including counts and demographics. Triangulate with consumer perspectives on both sock fabrics and footwear preferences. Describe the competitive landscape for wool fiber socks.

Explore the Latest:

The outdoor industry landscape is changing, and we’re here to help with timely insights to grow your brand. Discover the trends that defined outdoor retail sales last year in our new report.

Watch our discussion about the retail sales trends that dominated the outdoor industry in 2023, our forecasted trends for 2024, and how you can leverage retail sales data to make informed decisions and drive revenue growth.

The 2023 Special Report on Hunting and the Shooting Sports provides a comprehensive look at the more than 14 million Americans ages 6 and over who participated at least once in hunting with both firearms and archery equipment in 2022.

Get updates on topics that matter to you

Subscribe to OIA email and stay informed about outdoor industry market and consumer trends, advocacy opportunities, sustainability news, and inclusion in the outdoors.

access exclusive research, Become a member today

Become an OIA member and join our passionate group of business leaders, climate experts, policy makers and outdoor enthusiasts committed to sustainable economic growth and climate positivity while protecting—and growing access to—the benefits of the outdoors for everyone.

Call 303.444.3353 to speak to a membership manager today.

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