The Outdoor Industry Association of the U.S. has released two reports that show that producers and retailers of outdoor products have come through the recent recession strong, having figured out how to be more profitable even as sales have fallen. In particular, the retailers who were identified as high-profit in the retail study reported an average gross margin of 46.5 percent, 3.4 percentage points higher than what it was in 2008. This segment included a lot of small independent shops. High-profit manufacturers had an average gross margin of 52.5 percent, up from 48.4 percent in 2007, although their sales per employee were flat. This year's manufacturers report also addressed current sourcing issues from Asia. The two reports took financial data from 61 vendors and 59 retailers. The reports are available free to OIA members, and any company that participates in the surveys can get a private report comparing their statistics with industry norms.
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