Leadership at the National Ski and Snowboard Retailers Association's (NSSRA) say an exclusive partnership announced Aug. 4 with  SportsOneSource, LLC to produce weekly snow sports sales data trend reporting is a game changer for the entire industry.

Under the deal, NSSRA will work with SportsOneSource to urge its members to begin reporting their sales data using SOS’s proprietary and confidential SSI Data platform, which already generates weekly reports based on POS data from more than 15,000 retail doors that sell sporting goods.

“We believe that SportsOneSource is well qualified to provide this service to our members,” said Wilbur Rice, Chairman of NSSRA Board of Directors and owner of Equipe Sport, which operates from four retail locations in Vermont. “SportScanInfo has provided timely sales data reporting on a weekly basis in many sports and outdoor-related product categories since 1998.”

NSSRA members who participate in the program will provide weekly POS data to SOS, which will aggregate the data and report its findings on a weekly basis. The research will cover sales of equipment, clothing and essentials for Alpine and cross country skiing and snowboarding as well as footwear and apparel for the broader outdoor market. Participating members will receive free access to the data via SSI’s secure website. Aggregating the data at the channel and region level protects the anonymity and confidentiality of each member’s data.

A win-win for entire industry
This is really the best thing to happen to our industry in a really long time,” said Teddy Schiavoni. “To have this kind of data available so readily will help retailers make better,  wiser decisions, but it will also really help manufacturers when it comes to streamlining production and having the right products available in the marketplace. It's a win-win for ski industry as whole.”

At meeting in January, NSSRA's board of directors appointed Rice, Schiavoni and Sports Specialists Ltd. President Steve Rogers to a committee to devlop a POS data research program, identify the best potential partner and negotiate an agreement that would benefit all its members.

NSSRA is encouraging its approximately 270 retailers, who operate 900 retail locations, to sign up for the program. Rice said Sports Specialists Ltd and Snowsports Merchandising Group – the industry's two largest buying groups – are supporting the effort.  
“The more storefronts contributing their anonymous data, the stronger the data, which is a benefit to all members and for companies purchasing the research,” said Rice. “Retailers can often make the mistake of thinking that certain products are successfully selling while the reality may be different.”

Rice said he'd like to see a strong majority of NSSRA's members participating in the program heading into its annual meeting at the SIA Snow Show in January.

SSISnowSports.com to launch in fall
The partnership between SportsOneSource and NSSRA is the first retailer-based partnership for SportsOneSource and its SSI Data platforms. SportsOneSource is launching its new SSISnowSports.com data platform this fall to provide weekly sales trend reporting based on data feeds from a broad range of retailers, including specialty shops, chain specialty retailers, big box sporting goods stores and the biggest names in Internet sales.

The new platform will initially provide access to online weekly trend reporting across categories, brands and products, and features the ability to track sales trends by color and technology. Weekly data is available within five days of each weekly close to enable retailers to access actionable data in season as it progresses.

“The entire SportsOneSource team is excited about this partnership with NSSRA as we launch the new SSISnowSports.com platform in September,” said James Hartford, CEO of The SportsOneSource Group. “The new platform is built on our new Hybrid Tabbed Platform (HTP) technology that enables specialty retailers and vendors to move quickly across the data from footwear to apparel to essentials and hardgoods.”

This is the second new research offering for NSSRA members this year. The Association launched its Compensation and Benefits Report in May. The Snow Sports Participation Report and Cost of Doing Business Survey have been exclusive NSSRA member benefits for many years.

For more information how to enroll in this program, please contact NSSRA President Larry Weindruch, lweindruch@nssra.com, or phone: (847) 391-9825. Companies wishing information on purchasing this data or retailers looking to develop a reporting relationship should contact Stacy Gerths, Outdoor Client Solutions Specialist at The SportsOneSource Group, at stacyg@SportsOneSource.com or call (303) 997-7302.

The National Ski and Snowboard Retailers Association is a volunteer-led organization dedicated to growing snowsports participation and to support and educate specialty snow sports retailers. Since its founding in 1989, NSSRA has served as the voice of specialty retailers, representing their interests in issues that concern the specialty snowsports retail channel. NSSRA publishes a number of research reports for specialty snow sports retailers, including the biennial NSSRA Cost of Doing Business Survey, a business-performance benchmarking tool; the annual Sports Participation in Snow Sports report; and the annual Combined Indemnified Bindings List.

About SportsOneSource/SSI Data
SportScanInfo (SSI Data) was created in 1998 by the founders of SoundScan, which measures sales data for the recording industry, and Nielsen/VNU, one of the world’s leading marketing research, information, and publishing companies. In January 2006, SportScanInfo was acquired by The SportsOneSource Group and is now the cornerstone in the company’s data business.

The SSI Data platform was initially based on technology developed to track music and video sales in North America through products such as SoundScan and VideoScan, which are now owned by Nielsen. The current SSI Data reporting platform combines over 30 years of technology, analytical expertise, and statistical modeling with contemporary database management technologies and analytical strategies that enable SSI Data to provide the broadest, deepest and most timely access to retail point-of-sale data available in the market today.

SSI Data has been providing point-of-sale data to retailers and manufacturers in the sporting goods, footwear and apparel markets for over 17 years. Members of the snow sports industry can now leverage the SSI Data reporting platform to gain visibility of retail sales from smaller, single store specialty retailers and specialty chain retailers to national footwear, sporting goods, department store and discount/mass chains.