The Rise of eCommerce in Outdoor Leisure: Don’t Get Left Behind

With the rise of eCommerce, outdoor leisure companies are embracing digital solutions to increase sales and reach a broader audience. Platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce are changing the way businesses operate online.

Consumers are increasingly looking to purchase outdoor gear, accessories, and even experiences online. Companies that can make this transition effectively will thrive, but it requires the right technology.

The top 10 websites that are on page one of Google are the following:

1. Go Outdoors

2. Trail

3. Mountain Warehouse

4. Amazon

5. WM Camping

6. Argos

7. Tesco

8. Halfords

9. Trespass

10. Winfield Outdoors

When you are in position one on Google (or other search engines), you’ll get about one-third of the clicks for that keyword. Or, in this case, around 9,000 clicks a month on that single keyword.

As a rule of thumb, most ecommerce websites convert around 1% of those clicks into sales. Or, 90 sales a month for Go Outdoors from ranking number one for a single keyword.

For Go Outdoors, their camping chairs cost around £30. Multiply that by 90 and you can see they probably sell about £2,700 worth of camping chairs a month. I expect it's way more than that, because this is only one keyword we’re looking at.

Trail, in position two, gets about one-third of the clicks that Go Outdoors gets a month for the keyword, or, 3,000 clicks. Apply the same maths, and with Trail’s average camping chair price (about £48), they'll make sell about £1,440 a month

You can see that being in position one on Google is better than being in position two.

Use Product Reviews on Your eCommerce Platform:

Consumers rely heavily on reviews when purchasing outdoor equipment online. Implement a system for collecting and displaying customer reviews on your Shopify or WooCommerce site.

This not only helps with trust but also improves SEO, as search engines favour sites with fresh, user-generated content.

Thinking of launching or improving your eCommerce store? Let’s discuss the best platforms for your business.

Until next time...

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eCommerce in Action

Let’s look at one example by focusing on a product category that comes in many forms, namely ‘camping chairs.’

In the UK, now, people search for ‘camping chairs’ around 27,000 times a month* on Google. Despite the 'pandemic spike' and a recent downturn in interest, there's still good demand for camping chairs in the UK.

What about the other sites?

There are three anomalies on page one, namely Trail, WM Camping, and Winfields Outdoors. Why?

They aren't household names, and they are fighting it out with big brands like Amazon and Tesco to sell camping chairs.

That means you can, too.

The task then is how do you get to page one?

We’ll cover that in another newsletter. In the meantime, here’s something you can do on your own site now to increase your chances of getting onto page one.

Actionable Strategy