The Sport Footwear business at retail got off to a rocky start retail fiscal month of September but steadily improved week-by-week throughout the month. According to weekly point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanInfo, Sport Footwear sales declined in the low- to mid-single-digits in both dollars and units in the fiscal month of September ended October 1.
Average selling prices declined 1.5 percent to $54.46 per pair for the five-week period.
Year-to-date results were up in the low-single-digits for the eight-month period through September on a low-single-digit increase in unit sales and a 0.7 percent increase in average selling prices.
The month saw big swings in some key categories as the Lightweight Running footwear business continues to deliver growth in excess of 100 percent while Toning footwear posted declines in excess of 50 percent for the month. Basketball saw retail sales declined in the mid- to high-single-digits for the period.
September started with high-single-declines in the first week ended Sept. 3, which were almost entirely centered around the New England and Mid-Atlantic states and attributed to the effects of Hurricane Irene, although the Southwest also posted a decline as the region fights the continuing effects of the housing bubble burst, stubborn unemployment numbers and drought conditions. The month went uphill from there, with week five posting a very-low-single-digit decline versus the prior-year comparable week.
Excluding the tough Toning business reveals a much stronger overall business. The month of September would have only seen a low-single-digit decline when excluding the Toning business and would have posted a low- to mid-single-digit increase in the last week.
Average selling prices for Toning footwear were down more than 40 percent in September versus the prior-year month.
The All Lightweight Running business was the big driver for the growth in the Running Footwear category and in Sport Footwear in general in September. Running Footwear, which represented 34.0 percent of total Sport Footwear sales in the channels tracked by SportScanInfo in September versus 30.5 percent of sales in the year-ago month, posted sales growth in excess of 7 percent for September this year.
Of some concern is the sequential trend in Running Footwear, even with Lightweight included, which was up in the mid-teens for the year-to-date period before growth moderated to in September.
For more details on September and weekly Sport Footwear trends, please contact The SportsOneSource Group at 704.987.3450 or e-mail SportScan@SportsOneSource.com.
