Industry News

December 16, 2021

Dear Industry Colleague:

Happy holidays!

This has been a busy year for SIA. We have been actively working to better support our members and deliver critical value to your business. Our sole goal has been to create the tools necessary to future-proof your business with a clear focus on: Research, Consumers, Climate and Inclusion.

Today we are excited to launch our new NextGen of Winter Participants Study, a new report that provides incredibly important insights into growing participation within audiences traditionally underrepresented in winter outdoor sports.

Some of the key takeaways include:

• The most common barriers to entry were cost, injury concerns and a lack of skills or knowledge.
• Nearly one out of five non-participants said they had simply never thought about snowsports, indicating that overall awareness might be an initial barrier to converting non-participants into participants.
• Non-participants themselves revealed that the more inclusive snowsports is to them, the more interested they would be in trying or participating in snowsports, because they feel it’s within their capabilities.

Click here to download or purchase this study (free to SIA Premium members through the Member Portal).

I also want to highlight other key member resources that SIA has created this past year, or will be launching early next year, that you really should not miss! All of these member tools are available on our website and/or in the Member Portal.

Leading the industry on Consumer Data and Engagement:

• Monthly Consumer Insights Reports – monthly insights from November through March from SIA’s panel of over 100,000 active winter enthusiasts
• “The Impacts of COVID-19 on Snowsports Consumer Trends and Insights”, conducted each spring to assess the impacts of COVID on participation
• SIA’s Annual Participation Study
• End-of-Season NPD Retail Sales Report (coming May 2022)
• Snowbound Festivals– Direct consumer engagement opportunities in fall of 2022 (Registration opens early 2022)
• Snowbound on FUEL TV – “Snowbound” is an 11-episode series featuring 22 minutes of winter outdoor content with multiple re-airs during the week. Content is exclusively provided by SIA members (premiering on Jan. 14 and airing every Friday through March).

Charting a path for Inclusion:

• Fresh Tracks Playbook – an inclusive leadership training guide
• Free Online Inclusion Training
• Insightful and education Town Halls, such as Inclusion In The Winter Industry-Creating Inclusive Content featuring Virgil Abloh
• Monthly Inclusion Discussion Meetups 
• Challenging the industry on Inclusion – We Can and Must Do Better!

Retooling our members for Climate Action and Advocacy:

• ClimateUnited – uniting the winter outdoor industry around meaningful climate action
• The Climate Lab – a free resource for SIA members that features a proven and achievable roadmap, tools and guidance needed to build and execute an effective climate action strategy for your business (launching in January)

Educating our members:

• Providing education to help your business thrive with an education library of over 70 Town Halls, panels and presentations covering a variety of topics from business technologies, consumer trends, e-commerce, climate/sustainability and more
• Leadership for Transformation – a training program to create positive change in the winter outdoor industry

It is our job to create these tools and resources for you. It’s your job to utilize them. Big thanks to the entire SIA team for all of their hard work this year on behalf of our members and thanks to the winter outdoor community for their continued support of SIA.

Cheers to a snowy happy holiday season with your family and friends!

Best,

Nick Sargent, SIA President