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OrderMyGear started when Kent McKeaigg noticed his father Ronnie was spending hours buried under piles of paper order forms to organize and fulfill product for local high school teams. Building an eCommerce platform to facilitate those orders allowed Kent to solve Ronnie’s problem, but Kent found that this solution would help thousands of other individuals like his father. A passion for innovating our services and platform, along with our focus on client success, makes OMG one-of-a-kind in the industry. Our relentless focus on creating and strengthening mutually beneficial relationships allows industry brands and partners the chance to service end consumers in the modern way they have come to expect. This, in turn, allows decorators, dealers, and distributors to enhance their customer offering and remain competitive in an increasingly technology-centered market.

What are some of the new/innovative products everyone should know about?

OMG creates modern solutions that increase sales without increasing your workload. Here are key product innovations we’re excited to share with you: • Redesigned Storefronts: drive revenue with modern buying experiences • Custom Domains: achieve branding consistency and visibility • Live Inventory Feeds: view live feeds from top brands • Email Authentication: build trust with heightened online store security • ShipStation Integration: provide convenient shipping options • Product Library: benefit from the most robust product database in the industry • [Coming soon!] Year-Round Stores: seize new sales opportunities with year-round bookstores or spiritwear sites

What are you looking forward to about this year’s Management Conference? What do you find most valuable?

The NSGA Management Conference is a highlight of our year because it provides the opportunity to interact with the brightest minds in our industry. As our industry continues to grow and evolve, we are able to use the Management Conference as an opportunity to collaborate with our peers and partners to tackle challenges and seize opportunities. The sporting goods industry is where OMG was born and listening to feedback from clients and peers allows us to continue building our platform in a way that moves our industry forward together.

Can you share with everyone a little about your company and commitment to the dealer/retailer network?

OMG is a purpose-built online store solution that has serviced team dealers from day one. This means our modern platform was specifically designed to simplify the team ordering process, eliminating the headache of manual tasks. Our team dealers see business growth because OMG partners with our clients, offering powerful, data-backed strategies, award-winning and unlimited support and training and more. The OMG Team is committed to tackling challenges facing the team industry so dealers can open revenue opportunities and maximize sales.

How have you adapted in the past yearand-a-half from COVID?

As the technology leader in the sporting goods industry, OMG utilized time, resources and money in gathering real-time data to understand the impact COVID had on our industry. This data showed what strategies worked - like fundraising efforts - and we supported dealers in pivoting to seize those opportunities. Data continues to be a powerful tool in our partnership with clients to drive sales. Asking the right questions, we are able to use this data to create a knowledge base of actionable insights that generates revenue for dealers.

COVID-19 Impact on First-Time Participation in 2020

By Nick Rigitano

NSGA Director of Insights and Analysis

COVID-19 altered our lifestyles significantly for most of 2020. The pandemic led people to consider alternatives for their athletic and fitness activities.

NSGA’s 2021 editions of the Sports Participation in the United States reports, released earlier this year, revealed which sports/ activities flourished and which ones struggled during the 2020 pandemic year. Further analysis of study results also shed light on which sports/activities people were most likely to try for the first time during the COVID-19 months of March 2020–December 2020. According to NSGA’s participation study, exercise walking had 11.6 million first-time participants during these months (March 2020-December 2020), which was the most among the 64 sports and recreational activities tracked by NSGA (Figure 1).

The next three spots on the list of the most first-time participants during the pandemic months were also fitness activities - yoga (8.8 million), inhome video workout (6.8 million) and exercising with equipment (5.2 million). Camping (vacation/overnight) was the non-fitness activity that was tried the most during the same time frame at 5.1 million people. Returning to the theme of first-time fitness participants, 5.1 million people tried aerobic exercising, 4.8 million tried cross-training and 4.7 million people tried running/jogging. The last two spots on the list were swimming and high-intensity interval training, which were tried by 4.6 million and 4.3 million people, respectively. Another way to examine first-time participation during the 2020 pandemic months is to look at the concentration of first-time participants for a given sport or recreational activity (Figure 2). Study results show the activity of cross-training having the highest percentage of first-time participants with 51 percent. Similarly, 47 percent of boot camp/weekend warrior participants and 43 percent of suspension training participants tried the activities for the first time during the same period. The sport of boxing, which can also be done by people looking for fitness benefits, had the fourth-highest percentage of first-time participants at 41 percent. In-home video workout and danceoriented fitness activities were fifth and sixth on the list at 38 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Sports outside of fitness, touch football (34 percent) and pickleball (33 percent), occupied the seventh and eighth spots, while spin/power cycling (33 percent) and surfing (32 percent) closed out the list at spots nine and 10, respectively. As part of NSGA’s study, participants were also asked if they planned to continue to participate in their respective sport(s) during 2021. The activities shown in Figure 3 represent those with the highest percentage of participants who planned to continue participating in 2021. It is important to note, however, that this line of questioning often results in survey respondents overestimating their likelihood of participating. Certain insights can still be gleaned from the data, though. Directionally speaking, these activities appear to be the least at risk of losing their participants compared to other activities with much lower percentages. For the sports/activities that saw a significant amount of first-time participation during the 2020 pandemic months, it is the hope that the exposure to these new sports/activities can lead to continued interest in participating for years to come.