The Outdoor Retail Summer Market was cancelled in 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic, marking its first cancellation since 1982. It’s resulted in significant implications occurring throughout the outdoor sports gear industry, with retailers struggling to ascertain which products are best suited for the next season & orders becoming lower. ORSM Event Managers have worked diligently towards solving the issue of Covid-19, which was minorly accomplished by releasing buyer guides on industry-leading products.
Two of the suggested products on the OSMR buyer guide were sleeping bags, with both manufactured by Big Agnes. This brand is famous throughout the “Outdoor Retail Summer Market”. It obtained influential popularity during OSMR 2018, where two prototype sleeping bags that provided an excessive level of comfort & warmth were shown publicly. It created notable excitement amongst exhibition attendees, prompting their return in 2019. OSMR recommending their product indicates that Big Agnes will return in 2021 for the rescheduled exhibition show. It should be clarified; these sleeping bags have obtained numerous awarded in two years.
Digital Exhibition
Organizers for the Outdoor Retail Summer Market changed the format, moving to an online platform that permitted virtual attendees. Virtual booths & hosts were seen throughout the online mass-videoconference. It was an odd experience that saw attendance volumes drastically lower than standard exhibitions. One of the few booths receiving notable popularity was Big Agnes, showing that their upcoming sleeping bags are popular enough to garner a largescale virtual audience.
After completion of the Outdoor Retail Summer Market, it was announced that ORWM is being reformatted to a virtual setting. This means attendees wanting to witness the upcoming products for Winter 2021 won’t be permitted to do-so in-person. The Outdoor Retail Winter Market is accounting for the virtual setting & minimal audience seen with OSMR by releasing a greater volume of buyer guides.
Surprisingly, standard attendees aren’t witnessing the virtual iterations of these exhibitions. Sports gear has grown considerably more prominent in society during the Covid Era. Retailers are likely to see greater profits by adopting innovative products to their store shelves. Consumers will begin growing tiresome of the standard store shelve items.
