While December started slowly for many retailers, the Christmas spirit finally took hold late in the month and consumers opened up their wallets to finish the month out well ahead of last year. While discounting was certainly prevalent and-according to many retailers- promotions started earlier than ever this year; discounts weren’t as deep as originally feared. Average selling prices were well above last year when many retailers were vastly over-inventoried.
According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanInfo, Outdoor Equipment, Apparel and Footwear sales through the sporting goods, mall, department store, and discount/mass channels were up in the high single digits for the month of December while units sold were down in the low-single digits. Average selling prices were up considerably in all three major categories.
Footwear sales were up in all categories, with Light Hiking and Approach/Multisport footwear showing the strongest sales growth for the fiscal month. Performance trail running footwear saw a slight decline, but this was more than offset by double-digit increases in fashion trail running sales. Surf/Beach lifestyle footwear was also up in the high-single digits, driven by brands like Sanuk.
Outdoor Footwear average selling prices were up in the mid-single digits on a percentage basis. Sales were relatively chaotic throughout the month, with the volume peaking on the week ending 12/20 and tapering off much more slowly this year than last year. The UGG Classic boot continues to sell well at retail and was clearly the must-have footwear item in the outdoor categories this season.
Outdoor Apparel sales saw a considerable benefit from the cold weather and heavy snowfall in many of the country’s ski areas particularly the high population centers in the Northeast and New England. Retailers and ski resorts are benefiting from near ideal conditions on the slopes as well as “the backyard effect” which drives even more consumers onto the slopes and into shops when their backyards are filled with snow.
Overall Outdoor Apparel sales were up in the mid-single digits while Outdoor Outerwear sales were up in the high-teens. The Outdoor categories out-paced Ski and Snowboard Outerwear sales and Outdoor raingear also continued to show strong gains.
Average selling prices in the Outdoor Apparel categories were up considerably from last year due to fewer promotions and new legal tools that many apparel vendors are utilizing to police minimum advertised prices.
Again this year, the Denali jacket from The North Face was the top seller for the month of December, even though it faced some stiff competition from the Apex Bionic jacket. In fact, TNF claimed nine of the top ten best selling items in Outdoor Apparel and two of the top ten places in all sports apparel.
The Outdoor Equipment market started to bounce back from a highly disappointing November that was impacted by deep discounting and slow consumer traffic. Across the entire category, sales were basically flat with a slight dip in average selling prices, compared to double-digit declines last month. However, several key categories saw sales improvement for the month in the face of a chaotic sales environment.
Sales of Tents increased considerably, particularly the more technical Backpacking Tents. This year, consumers are trending towards larger tents with three- and four-person models out-selling the one-two person category. Larger Family Tents were also showing strong results for the month.
Water Bottles continued to deliver double-digit growth in December but the rate of growth is barely one quarter of what it was three months ago. The consumer panic over BPA that caused a massive up-tick on the category has clearly started to subside. Products with BPA are nearly non-existent in the top sellers report, with BPA-free plastic and stainless steel covering the list.
Canoes and Kayaks also seem to be more popular holiday items than last year, with a slight up-tick in sales for the month driven primarily by higher-end, higher price-point products. The strongest categories were Recreational Kayaks and Family Canoes. Spray Skirts, Seats and Accessories were also very strong items for Christmas shoppers.
For the past several years, new synthetic insulation technologies have bolstered the sales of synthetic sleeping bags. However, this year, down seems to be coming back, with considerable gains in sales of Down Mummy Bags for the month of December and the fiscal year-to-date.
Fly Fishing Rods, Reels and Combos were a popular Holiday gift, with sales up in the high-single digits. Sales growth in Combos continues to out-pace separate rods and reels by a two-to-one margin, and it looks like Combos will equal the combined sales of rods and reels in sales volume for the first time this year.
Finally, Technical Packs and Bags showed strong growth for the month with Internal Frame Packs and Technical Waist Packs showing the strongest growth in the category. Laptop and Messenger Bags also showed a low-single digit increase for the period.
While the Holiday shopping season started off slow this year with lackluster sales over the Black Friday weekend, the last week before Christmas clearly exceeded many retailers’ expectations.
In addition, the sales following Christmas seem to be trending considerably higher than last year as consumers are highly motivated to seek out bargains. While there was some concern regarding overly tight inventories at retail, it seems that the industry was able to have a merry Christmas after all.
