REI's record membership growth boosts online, in-store sales

Dive Brief:

Outdoor gear retailer Recreational Equipment Inc. Tuesday reported a whopping 9.3% increase in sales in 2015. Same-store sales grew 7%, year over year, and web sales grew 23%.
REI says the growth was mainly driven by new co-op membership sign ups and online sales. Membership grew by more than 1 million members last year, a record growth, reaching a total of more than 6 million members.
The company’s operating profit and net income was lower than in 2014, however, in part because of the $185 million dividend that flowed to its membership base and $8.5 million in contributions to nonprofit partners, according to its financial report.

Dive Insight:

REI's decision to opt out of Black Friday and encourage its members (and everyone) to enjoy the outdoors is widely seen as a stroke of genius. The marketing campaign, which saw REI close its physical stores and give employees Black Friday off with pay, saw more than 1.4 million hits on social media, with more than 175 organizations joining in and encouraging people to spend Black Friday outside. The retailer saw web sales spike 26% during the Black Friday holiday weekend.

But, as Bloomberg points out, REI didn’t have that much to lose in closing on the retail holiday. REI customers, generally speaking, aren’t likely to participate in a frenzy over hiking boots or even kayaks on Black Friday, the way many famously will at Wal-Mart for a big-screen HDTV.

Still, making a point of opting out, as Bloomberg suggests and the numbers prove, was an attention getter that helped anyone participating—its customers, employees, and marketers—feel the kind of superiority that can only come the zen of hiking rather than walking a mall.

"The idea has struck a chord – far more than we expected," REI president and CEO Jerry Stritzke said in a statement days before Black Friday last year. "We did this to share our passion for reconnecting with the people we love, in the outdoor places we love. But honestly we are surprised by – and very grateful for – the number of groups joining in. Clearly people are looking to do something a bit different with their time.”