Hi Tony - I pay attention to paddlesports industry stats as part of my job, and the business is, in fact, small potatoes. A marketing company called Leisure Trends has started tracking paddlesports sales for the Outdoor Industry Association in the last couple of years -- and annual retail sales have been between $265 and $300 million. The latest report I got from them said that in Aug. 04-Feb. 05, paddlesports accounted for 3 percent of the $3.6 billion in outdoor-recreation sales, or about $108 million for the six-month period. What they are tracking is retail sales through specialty shops, outdoor chains such as REI and MEC, and just this year they are tracking catalog and internet sales. I don't think it necessarily includes all the boats sold through places like Costco and Walmart. In contrast, the Winter Sports Retail Audit showed sales of about $2 Billion in the Aug 04 to Feb 05 period. If you want to go deeper into this, the Outdoor Industry Association is a good place to look - wwwoutdoorindustry.org -- look at their "research" page for studies on sales and on recreation participation. Some reports are limited to members only. Or Leisure Trends - www.leisuretrends.com - if you want to know more about them. Robin Stanton Managing Editor Canoe & Kayak Magazine 10526 NE 68th St., Suite 3 Kirkland, WA 98033 425-827-6363, ext. 110 fax: 425-827-1893 e-mail: robin_at_canoekayak.com www.canoekayak.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue May 03 2005 - 15:35:45 PDT
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