As people earn more, the pursuit of spiritual growth and health conduces to the thriving outdoor gear market whose size was more than $60 billion (up over 15% YoY) in 2018 and is expected to be worth $67.8 billion in 2019 and at least $100 billion in 2025.

As a major consumer of outdoor gears worldwide, in 2018, China saw total retail sales of outdoor gears edge up 2.1% year on year to RMB24.98 billion (approximately $3.77 billion, at exchange rate: 1 US dollar = 6.6174 yuan), showing a CAGR of 4.0% between 2015 and 2018, far lower than a rate of 29.5% from 2010 to 2014. As the Chinese outdoor gear market levels off, it will sustain an AAGR of 3%-5% during 2019-2025.

In recent years, the Chinese outdoor gear market was characterized as follows:

1. Segment: Apparel still prevailed in the market, accounting for 45.3% of total outdoor gear sales in 2018; camping equipment and shoes made up over 10%. As consumers know more about outdoor sports and grow mature for the years, tools and apparatus has been developing faster, with a market share of more than 20.0% in 2018; bedsides, these products using new technology offer new improvements, which in turn fuel consumption.

2. Sales channel: brick-and-mortar retail stores were still a mainstay but grew slowly; e-commerce channels occupied the most, or virtually 41.4% of total sales in 2018, albeit in the smallest number. As mainstream e-commerce platforms cost more and become less competitive, new media platforms begin to come to the fore, or will even be a key stimulus for the growth of e-commerce channels.

3. Competitive pattern: of the roughly 935 outdoor gear brands globally in 2018, Chinese brands swept a combined 52.4%, around 40 percentage points higher than that in 2000. Yet, the dislocation and compatibility among outdoor gear brands in China led to a high and almost unchanged industry concentration, though there had been a surge in number of brands. The collective market share of the top ten Chinese brands hovered at 55% after 2014.

4. A steady growth in outdoor gear consumers: in 2018, there were 142 million people going in for pan-outdoor sports in China, an increase of 12 million compared with 2013 when 130 million did, with a CAGR of 1.8% from 2013 to 2018.

The popularity of sports items such as cross country running, self-driving trip and skiing will give outdoor gear market a big boost. In 2018, a 9.1% increase in number of skiers in China contributed to a 25% jump in sales of snowboards. What’s more, sales of leisure & camping equipment and outdoor sticks in the country soared by over 60% in 2018.

China Outdoor Gear Industry Report, 2019-2025 highlights the following:

  • Outdoor gears (definition, classification, etc.);
  • Global outdoor gear market (size, number of consumers, consumption structure, main regional markets (Europe, USA and South Korea));
  • Chinese outdoor gear market (environment, characteristics and trends);
  • Chinese outdoor gear market (development history, size, sales channel, brand composition, business model, etc.);
  • Major outdoor gear market segments (apparel, shoes, backpacks, equipment, etc.) (size, brands, development trends, etc.);
  • 7 global and 15 Chinese outdoor gear companies (operation, revenue structure, outdoor gear business, etc.).