Outdoor sales in July exceeded June numbers in both the UK and French markets. In month-over-month terms, the UK outdoor market grew by 12% in July compared to June, while in France the figure was 23%.
The sales match trends witnessed over the last three years.
Most of the growth comes from increased sales volume, as market average sale price (ASP) changes in both UK (-0.05%) & France (+2.51%) are minimal.
Festival and holiday sales take over market
Camping leads the way in terms of like-for-like sales against June in both UK and France, possibly linked to holiday season and the preparation for this.
However, July ’25 vs July ’24 saw a double-digit decline in the UK and France, following a trend that has been seen for some months now.
Within the camping category, in both France and the UK, furniture has seen the most significant progression month-on-month.
In terms of average sale price, Kitchen items displayed the most growth vs June, with Furniture suffering the largest decline, a phenomenon potentially linked to festival goers purchasing more disposable, lower-price items.
The annual impact of summer festivals is plain to see elsewhere in the market. In the UK for instance, June 2025 Apparel and Footwear were the biggest category combined accounting for 45% of the months sales, but in July 2025, Camping was the biggest category and accounted for 48% of total sales. Despite sales of Apparel and Footwear declining by only 2.6%, it only accounted for 39% of the month’s sales.
Camping market remains hard for smaller brands to break into
Within the camping sector, the top four brands represented in the UK market make up 80% of the category value. These brands also enjoyed above category-average growth in July (vs June). Also, all Top 10 brands in the category, bar one, saw growth vs last month. However, only three brands in the Top 10 saw growth vs July ’24, highlighting the challenging sector against last year.
Big winners last month include Sea to Summit.
Heat matters
In the UK, summer 2025 is “almost certain” to be the hottest on record, while worldwide the month was the third-hottest July on record. The market for cool tech and cooling products has undoubtedly benefitted from this.
Across both the UK and France, Equipment continues to be more in person purchased, the highest category for in store purchases. This is growing year-on-year too, with more customers heading to physical locations for equipment purchases.
Our view
Struggling sales against 2024 make it all the more important for the industry to embrace data and insight. In a challenging market, every pound or euro matters, whether it’s retailers wanting to make sure they are buying stock that’s a sure thing for their customers or brands ensuring that their price points and marketing strategies are setting them up for success. Contact us for further information as to how your business can participate and become involved with OMIS.
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.
