Sales of outdoor products enjoyed a seasonal rise in the UK in August. Compared to July, total revenue was up by 3.8%, with volume sales trending promisingly. In France meanwhile, sales dropped, echoing trends witnessed over the last three years. Outdoor sales traditionally spike in France in July, whereas the UK picture tends be a little more volatile.
Verticality outperforms the market
The UK growth was especially encouraging in the Verticality department, with a gross increase of 17.2% driven mostly by slightly lower value items. This pace of month-on-month growth outstrips 2024, when the department grew by a much more moderate 2% between July and August. A large proportion of the surge was delivered from soft goods, with climbing shoes, bags and bouldering all performing well. From a brand standpoint, Black Diamond and DMM are two who gained market share last month.
In France too, Verticality sales bucked the overall market trend by growing slightly month-on-month. Climbing shoes performed strongly here too.
Average sale prices
Average sale prices are a highly interesting area of the market to examine at this time of the year, with shifting seasons often encouraging stock clearances. Footwear saw a 5.5% increase in the UK and a 3.7% increase in France (both against July prices). On the other hand, Camp prices dropped starkly even as quantity sales of products rose. The average product within the department sold for 13% less than in July. Last year, the drop-off between July and August was a much more moderate 3.8%.
What we're keeping an eye on
Clearly, one question is whether the verticality sector continues to outperform other areas of the market, and if so, which price-points, categories and brands take best advantage of that.
Another question as Autumn sets in is whether the Camp department sees the slowing sales that typically takes place at this time of the year, or whether relatively clement conditions (if they remain in place) extend the sales window for camping gear later into summer and further into Autumn.
September does usually see revenue begin to fall across the UK and French markets with the end of summer, so from this point in the year on, any monthly increases in revenue (at an overall level – individual categories and sub-categories do perform better during Autumn and Winter) would mark a standout performance.
Looking at brand sales too, it will be interesting to see how trends shift over time. For instance, in August, Jack Wolfskin and RAB were the two biggest winners against the market in terms of month-on-month growth, while Vango suffered as camping sales began to dip following a strong festival season.
About OMIS
Outdoor Market Intelligence Services (OMIS) is a representation of sell out, retail sales data from the outdoor industry in both the United Kingdom and France. The data represents approximately 60% of the total market retail sales, spanning the total market from major generalist retailers, the specialist retail sector, and also online branded sales.
For a full overview of the data contributors please contact us.
Sporting Insights collect, anonymise and aggregate the data into a user-friendly dashboard that highlights trends and market movements on a total level, by category and subcategory.
These categories have been defined by the outdoor industry.
Information is released to subscribers every month, with a current target of 15 business days after the month closes.
