Hiking Shoe Sales Are Climbing Fast, Especially Online — and Merrell Is Leading the Charge

Sales of outdoor footwear climbed $299 million for the 12 months ending May 2021, The NPD Group Inc. senior sports industry adviser Matt Powell revealed yesterday during the Outdoor Retailer Summer show. The mark is a 19% increase over the same period in 2019. Much of those sales came from e-commerce. During NPD’s Outdoor Retail Trends and Consumer Insights presentation, Powell stated digital now accounts for more than one-third of athletic footwear revenue. According to NPD data, for the 12 months ended May 2019, e-commerce made up 26% of athletic footwear sales. That number peaked at 41% for the same period in 2020, and then dipped slightly to 38% for the year ending May 2021. “It’s really imperative now that every retailer have an e-commerce presence of some kind,” Powell said during the presentation. “You cannot ignore this phenomenon when it’s as large as it is.” The industry insider offered an end-of-year prediction, doubling down on his digital stance. “Those [online] numbers are holding up pretty well. We’ve taken a small step backwards, but I’m going to bet by the end of the year we are pretty much in line with the levels that we achieved in 2020,” Powell said. One of the several outdoor categories with

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