REI Buyer Persona - 9/11/2019

Korrie Rogers: Team Leader

Persona Design, Table Design, Data Processor, Story Writer

Kristin Rolle
Researcher, Table Design, Data Analysis, Persona Design, Story Writer

Emily Williamson
Data Analysis, Data Processor, Table Design, Persona Design, Story Writer

Jose Martinez
Persona Design, Table Design
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Recreation Equipment Incorporated, REI, is a leading co-operation. REI’s target market is

not only outdoor enthusiasts, but is overall adventurous, goal driven, and empathetic people.

According to one article, the majority of people who shop at REI are similar in the sense that they

love to “live in a very environmentally conscious lifestyle” (Diehl 2017). Through our own consumer

research we were able to confirm that sustainability is one of the underlying key themes that inspire

people to shop at REI. REI allows its members to make sustainable choices by openly disclosing

where each item is made and materials used for each item on their website. They make each of the

individual brands they carry online and in-store follow a sustainability code (Chertoff 2018).

Members of REI also get a unique perk of gaining access to REI garage sales, where any good that is

returned to the store is marked down to low prices.

REI stores are strategically built in areas with above average income range. Statistically

speaking, the average median income for all REI locations is a very well-to-do $93,500, far above the

$59,000 national average (Chertoff 2018). According to research on Similarweb.com, competitors to

REI such as, Academy Sports, LL Bean, and Bass Pro Shop encourage their customers to get outside

and enjoy the outdoors just like REI. Yet, these companies are catering to a different type of buyer

persona than REI. REI’s competitors are not focused on environmental and sustainable efforts, and

they do not offer the experience that REI does. One of REI’s points of value that attracts their
consumer base are their group trips and adventure outings.

Analysis of the REI website on Similarweb.com shows that most visitors to the website fall

within the 25-34 age range. Gender distribution is 56% male, and 43% female. Based on the fact that

REI store fronts are placed in higher income areas, we can assume that REI’s most common

customer is recently graduated young people who have just settled into their careers. In evaluating

REI’s Facebook and Instagram (viewed about 40 accounts), there is a common theme of having a

career that the person is passionate and highly motivated for.

REI members are known for their loyal support of REI. This is evident in the success of one

of REI’s most well known campaigns. In 2015, on one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year,

Black Friday, REI closed and started the #OptOutside initiative. The customer support and

engagement aspect of the campaign was tremendous, with REI reporting that 1.4 million people
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posted the #OptOutside hashtag on their social pages (REI #OptOutside 2016). This also shows

REI’s ability to connect with their customer base on social media (particularly Instagram). As of

September 9th, 2019, 13.5 million people have used #optoutside on their Instagram posts.

According to an employee (Bethany, female, 23) at an REI location in Buford, GA, one of

the most common customers she deals with are retired people who are just starting to travel and be

active. This demographic ranges from mid 50s to early 70s, when they are still able to be active and

want to fill their new found free time with experiences rather than material things. REI’s Facebook

page also had a heavy amount of older and retired empty nesters. This could range from light hikes in

their local area, to backpacking trips with their significant other, to traveling through Europe.

Bethany explained that in her experience, the retired person begins at REI for their initial research

before they start their adventure, and then continue to come back to REI after their first experiences.

The traditional storefront is not where REI gets most of its income. As mentioned in a

previous paragraph, REI has its own trip packages and outings for members to go on. Marketed as

REI Adventures, which sells small, guided trips and adventures around the globe, is the co-op’s

fastest growing revenue stream (Chertoff 2018). REI has done a great job at leading the trend of

consumers wanting experiences more so than materialistic things. This proves that REI’s customer

base is focused around outdoor recreation and adventure. This trait is consistent throughout its varied
and diverse customer base, and links its customer base into an outdoor community.

Persona Detail Questions to Answer
(B2C focused questions)
Role What is your job role/role in life/title?
What is a typical day for you? What
skills are required? What
knowledge/tools do you use?
Company/Organization What industry/organize do you work
for?
Goals What are you responsible for? What
does it mean to be successful in your
role?
Challenges What are your biggest challenges?
Challenges that relate to your
brand’s product?
Information Sources How do you learn about new
information?
What websites/blogs do you read?
What social media platforms do you
use and when?
Personal Background Age, Family (married, children – their
ages), Education, Hobbies, Favorite
Shows?
Shopping Preferences Where do you like to shop? If you
use the internet - what websites do
you shop on?
How do you search for products
online?
Primary Persona
-Fitness Trainer
-Aspiring social media influencer
(Aka weekend warrior)
- Works long days
-Afterhours involves hobbies and
socializing
-Late night video editing blogs.
-Not a lot of downtime
-Works on projects like clock work
Always onto the next and so on
-Typical local gym
-Involving indoor rock-climbing
-Personal training on and off the job.
-Genuinely cares about his clients and
their fitness journey
-Overall goal is to not work for a gym
but have his own business.
-Ultimate goal is to obtain a large fan
base and generate income from social
media platforms.
-Time management: Difficulty
managing;
outdoor hobbies, career, social, and
recreational life.
-Obtaining group to join for activities.
-Instagram & YouTube
-travel blogs
Watches a lot of channels related to
outdoor recreation
-Television is basically replaced with
-27 y/o single male, lives in Washington
-College graduate, but not using his
degree yet -Mountain biking, skiing,
hiking, rock climbing, kayaking,
camping, backpacking
Local businesses
- eco friendly
-Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Aldi.
-Leans more towards in store shopping
and interacting with a product
-Searches for products through social
media.
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Secondary Persona
-Retired Engineer, hard
worker in her field for 20
years
-Free time wants to find
adventure by spend their
traveling, outdoors mostly.
- Start out as experimental
and then get hooked on the
adventurous lifestyle
-Formerly employed with
industrial engineering
Now retired
-Spend as much time
outdoors now that she is her
own boss.
-Saves money and spends it
wisely
-Keeps track of purchases
and use
-Environmentally aware
- Difficulty being on the go
due to age.
-Troubled obtaining friends to
join her on her weekend trips
- News channels on cable TV
-Pinterest for inspiration
- Reads posts and articles
from websites that they see
posted on Facebook
-61 y/o married female, lives
in New York State
-Children are grown and
moved away
-Car camping, light hiking,
occasionally light
backpacking, traveling to
Europe, recreationally
kayaking
Prefers brick and mortar
stores
-Shop at higher end retail
stores
-No online shopping
Except for Amazon
-Product knowledge obtained
from Facebook and
infomercials.
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Primary Persona: Weekend Warrior William

Goals: Wants to help Demographics: Suburban,

Roles: Fitness Trainer,
aspiring social media
influencer
everyone achieve their fitness Single household, 20-35
goals, hopes to have a large years old
social media following to
influence others to get Age: 27
outside
Income: $45,000
Challenges: Time
management, difficult to get Education: Business Major
groups together to go out from Washington State
camping, biking, climbing, University
etc on the weekends
Location: Washington state

After a quick stop at his local coffee shop, William gets to the gym for his first client of the day at

7:30 am. In between clients, while William is at the gym, he records instructional workout videos to post

on his Youtube Channel. Many of his videos focus on creating workouts to help people with their

performance in various outdoor activities. William finishes up his work around 6:00 pm (sometimes goes

over), and then usually either goes to the climbing gym or goes out with his friends. He returns home to

his bachelor pad (on average no earlier than 11:00 pm) and edits his videos until midnight. During the
weekend, William enjoys going camping, rock climbing, mountain biking, and everything in between.

William is a very busy person. He spends a lot of time working at the gym and trying to grow his
social media. Because of this, he finds that he is always busy and struggles to balance time to do all of his

other tasks and hobbies. Additionally, because of his busy schedule, it is very difficult for him to plan

any outings with his friends, so he struggles to find people to do outdoor activities with, and he misses

that social interaction. Another challenge for him is affording all of the gear he needs for his outdoor

recreation. He has a decent income, but living expenses are expensive, and he needs access to cheaper
gear (even if it is used) so he can keep improving and expanding his many passions.

Whenever he needs information, William uses the typical sources for someone of his generation,
the always reliable social media and the opinions of others. He spends most of his time taking in

information on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. He especially likes to follow accounts
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related to outdoor recreation, where he gets ideas for what he would like to do next. He also enjoys

reading travel and outdoor recreation blogs to get inspiration for what adventure he plans to go on next.

William really needs a group of people that can actually work with his schedule when he wants to

go outdoors. He often tries to plan outings, but his friends are always busy or just don’t want to come

along. He would really like to find a group that plans events and then he can join in whenever he has time.
To help him afford the amount of gear he wants, he needs access to high quality but less expensive gear.
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Secondary Persona: Retired Roxanne

Goals: Wants to take some Demographics: Rural,

Roles: Wife, Mother,
Grandma, Retired Engineer,
Worked a 9-5 office job.
time for adventures of her
own. Uses her hard earned
money wisely but is also
ready to enjoy the money
she has earned.
Challenges: Being older,
physically makes it hard to
do some of the things she
loved doing when she was
young.
Single Household (empty
nester), 55-70 years old
Age: 61
Income: $60,000 (Retired)
Education: Masters Degree
or Higher
Location: Maine

Every morning Roxanne wakes up and starts her day with a cup of herbal tea and solves a

crossword puzzle in her local newspaper. She is a very active person and goes to water aerobics three

times a week and enjoys ending her day with long walks in her neighborhood. Her hobbies include

gardening, knitting, and light hikes in the local area. She has two dogs and loves to take them to the local

park. Her family is very loving and they often love spending time with her. She often takes her

grandchildren on hikes. Life has been hard for the past 10 years since the passing of her husband and she

is ready for new adventures.

Now that she has finally retired from a long and fulfilling career in Industrial Engineering, she

now has more time on her hands than what she is used to. After being a faithful wife for 29 years, caring
mother of three kids, and a grandmother of two she now wants to take some time off for herself. One

struggle Roxanne has is she doesn’t have many friends that are physically able to do the things she likes

to do. She would like to go on trips and outdoor outings with people her own age. She hopes to find

comfort in community. Also, Roxanne is aging, so with the low quality gear she uses while she is hiking

or traveling, she gets tired and sore quickly.

Roxanne is a social butterfly and takes any advice from her friends and family. She loves to go to

the local shopping mall just to get out of the house. She reads the newspaper daily and receives a lot of

shopping catalogs in the mail. The National Geographic channel, as well as the Travel channel has
inspired her to look for all inclusive trips to go on.
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She is looking for a new adventure and a new community of people. She tries to stay up to date

on the newest trends and admires quality products, innovative design, and durable materials. She needs

quality gear that will help keep her going longer while she hikes and travels.
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Works Cited:

Chertoff, Benjamin. “The Secret of REI's Success.” Thinknum Media, Thinknum, 11 May 2018,
https://media.thinknum.com/articles/the-secret-of-reis-success/.

Diehl, Emma. “Who Shops at REI?” CivicScience, 13 July 2017, https://civicscience.com/who-

shops-at-rei/.

James, Daniel. “9 Must-Know Millennial Shopping Trends & Marketing Strategies of 2017.”
Rakuten Marketing Blog, 23 Nov. 2018, https://blog.rakutenmarketing.com/insights/9-
must-know-millennial-shopping-trends-marketing-strategies-of-2017/.

Johnson, Bethany. REI employee. Personal interview. 10 September 2019.

“REI #OptOutside Campaign Results Show Power Of Sincerity Plus Engagement.” Retail
TouchPoints, News Briefs , 17 Mar. 2016,
https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/news-briefs/rei-optoutside-campaign-results-
show-power-of-sincerity-plus-engagement.