What brands should know about shopping trends in outdoor activities and sports for 2022
April 08, 2022 | By Dora Wang, Content Marketing Manager
Whether on land, water, snow, or even roads, shoppers across the US enjoy outdoor recreation. Their favorite activity may be camping or hiking, riding a snowboard, or cycling—whatever the activity, outdoor enthusiasts love to get out and get moving. They also need to right equipment to do so.
To better understand the outdoor recreation industry, Amazon Ads worked with Kantar to survey shoppers about how and where they purchase the products they need. We’ve highlighted some of the findings from our December 2021 survey below.
Outdoor recreation shopping patterns and seasonal trends
Half of outdoor recreation purchases occur within 2 days
The customer journey for outdoor recreation is relatively fast: half of outdoor recreation purchasers buy within the first 24-48 hours of starting their research. Another 35% research their purchases a week before.1
76% of outdoor recreation purchasers research online
As for how they do their research, 76% of respondents say they go online to gather information before they buy. And over half—54%—of outdoor recreation purchases are made online.2
New purchase seasonal trends by subcategory
When brands are looking to reach new customers, they should consider what times of year shoppers are more likely to first buy from this subcategory. For instance, skate and street sports see the highest number of new customers during the holiday season, around Black Friday/Cyber Monday and Christmas. Camping sees a relatively even distribution of new shoppers between summer months and holiday shopping, while summer is when new shoppers enter the cycling and water sports categories. Winter sports see more new customers in winter months.3
Related purchases and repurchases in outdoor recreation
Brands in this category may want to encourage more than a purchase of a single item, which is why it’s important to look at shoppers making related purchases, or repurchasing outdoor products.
Nearly 3/4 of outdoor recreation purchases include multiple products
The Kantar survey found that 45% of outdoor recreation shoppers bought more than one item when they made their purchase. Of those, 71% bought a related item.4 When creating their advertising strategy, outdoor recreation brands could consider cross-selling to help shoppers find their other products, such as using ads and promotions.
The repurchase window extends over one year from initial purchase
Outdoor recreation purchasers can also become repeat customers. The majority of repurchases—74%—occur within the first six months.5 Brands can use remarketing to keep themselves top of mind with this recent purchaser audience. However, beyond that initial six-month window, shoppers also made repeat purchases 6-12 months (15%) and over a year (11%) after their initial purchase6, so it’s important to keep connecting with customers to be ready at different times in their path to purchase.
Brand discovery in outdoor recreation
Half of outdoor recreation buyers are undecided on which brand to buy at the start of their purchase journey, either because they had multiple brands in mind or none in particular.7 The early stages of the customer journey can be an opportunity for brands to drive discovery with awareness-focused marketing.
Brand name matters more for winter and water sports, skate and street sports
The importance of brand name varies by subcategory. Winter and water sports (63%) and skate and street sports (71%) purchasers say that brand name is important to them when shopping for outdoor recreation equipment.8 However, new or growing brands should not be discouraged. Many of these shoppers (70% of winter and water sports purchasers and 77% of skate and street sports purchasers) discovered a new brand or product during their customer journey.9
Outdoor recreation shoppers discover new brands and products in Amazon’s store
One of the places shoppers discover new brands and products is in Amazon’s store. In fact, 73% of the outdoor recreation shoppers who visited Amazon before or during their purchase say they discovered a new brand or product. Of those, 74% went on to purchase that brand or product, wherever they spend time.10
The Kantar survey shows that there are a number of touchpoints across the customer journey for outdoor recreation brands to reach potential customers, wherever they spend time. Amazon Ads offers a variety of advertising solutions to help brands engage audiences while they browse, research, and purchase (sometimes more than once).
Whether you’re interested in growing brand awareness or driving conversions, our ad products can help you achieve your brand’s goals. Register or contact us to get started.
1-2 Kantar and Amazon Ads outdoor recreation P2P Study, December 2021, US
3 Amazon internal data, December 2020-November 2021, US
4-10 Kantar and Amazon Ads outdoor recreation P2P Study, December 2021, US