The Outdoor Industry Association

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The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is a member-based collective dedicated to helping guide and grow the outdoor industry by providing expertise in market research, sustainability, government affairs, and inclusive participation. To help its 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. As a trade organization serving brands, retailers, and other outdoor-related businesses, OIA relies on accurate, large-scale data to help its members navigate shifts in consumer behavior and retail landscapes.

challenge

As a B2B trade organization, OIA lacks the direct consumer marketing channels necessary to source respondents that meet the parameters needed for its studies. Ensuring demographic distributions aligned with key participation segments further complicates the process, making traditional research methods inefficient and resource-intensive. In short, the OIA team was finding participants manually - need we say more? 

For a recent study with its partners at Diversified Communications (DivCom), a digital media company, OIA sought to gain a deeper understanding of shifting consumer behavior within the outdoor retail sector, particularly the impact of a growing casual consumer base. However, conducting research internally presented the same challenges the organization normally faced: high costs, extended timelines, and difficulty in reaching the right audience. 

Solution

To overcome these challenges, OIA partnered with Rep Data, leveraging their expertise in hard-to-reach survey sampling and high-quality data collection. Rep Data provided an efficient, cost-effective solution by sourcing a highly targeted sample that met OIA’s strict demographic requirements. Within just 20 hours, OIA received 6,000 responses, ensuring a precise and statistically significant dataset. The partnership streamlined the research process, allowing OIA to focus on analysis rather than the logistical burden of consumer recruitment. Rep Data’s team also collaborated with OIA to fine-tune the survey design, ensuring optimal performance and accuracy in quota management.

outcomes

With the respondents provided by Rep Data, OIA is now equipped with actionable insights into consumer behavior and retail preferences. The findings will be unveiled at Switchback, a leading business and education gathering for the outdoor industry community, where OIA and DivCom will present key learnings on consumer shopping habits, retail trends, and factors driving engagement with small, local, and independent retailers. Beyond this event, the data will serve as an ongoing resource for OIA’s members, supporting industry-wide discussions, white papers, and strategic decision-making. Specifically, OIA will use the research to:

• Project consumer spending behavior in the outdoor market by age, gender, ethnicity, activity type, and approach to the outdoors.
• Identify where core outdoor participants shop most often and how their habits differ from casual consumers.
• Examine factors influencing online vs. in-store purchasing decisions among outdoor consumers.
• Deliver high-value insights to OIA members and partners, equipping them with data to make smarter business decisions.
• Inform ongoing discussions and market analyses, ensuring OIA can provide relevant, up-to-date insights on consumer trends.

By leveraging high-quality research, OIA enhances its value proposition, providing its members with exclusive intelligence that informs market strategies and strengthens its competitive edge.

“Partnering with Rep Data brought me joy. It wasn't just painless; it was all the way on the other side of the scale. It was cheaper, faster, easier. Everything that was promised was delivered in a time frame that absolutely exceeded my expectations. The data was clean. I couldn't be happier. It was an amazing value for what I received: statistically significant findings that will provide the foundation for valuable member outreach both now and in the future."

Kelly Davis, 
Director of Research, Outdoor Industry Association