RESEARCH
Together we are catalysts for insight
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.
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.
Consumer Insights
self-serve research 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.
SPORTS and ACTIVITIES DEEP DIVES
For all members, OIA will produce a single narrative-based participation report on “Emerging” and “Leading” sports and activities reports.
Emerging Activities: a comprehensive participation trends deep dive of an emerging consumer type and outdoor recreational activity that includes a five-year overview, frequency, core vs. casual participants, race, ethnicity, gender, demographics, and a view of cross-participation activities and interests.
Leading Activities: Narrative-based participation reports on the top five outdoor recreational activities: hiking, camping, fishing, biking and running.
Market intelligence
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 custom 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 custom queries, and Support+ members get one custom query per year.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of custom 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 our research archive:
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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.