It was another solid retail month for the action sports side of outdoor retail, with Zumiez delivering another double-digit increase in comparable store sales for November. Total sales were up 38.6% to $18.0 million for the month ended November 26, compared to $13.0 million in the year-ago period. Comp store sales were up 18.8% for the month on top of a 1.8% gain in the same month last year.
According to data released by SportScanINFO last week, the Thanksgiving week saw a strong jump in outdoor footwear, outerwear, and snow sports hardgoods, thanks to the turn to colder weather in late October that carried over into November.
The outdoor footwear category, which also includes work boots and military/duty product, posted a 42% increase in sales for the November period versus the comparable period last year. Most of the gains came from gains in the mid-market department store, family footwear, and sport specialty channels, which includes the outdoor specialty business. The mall specialty channel posted a decline as the category loses momentum as a fashion product in the urban markets. Full-line sporting goods sales of outdoor footwear rose more than 19% for the Thanksgiving week, according to the SportScanINFO data.
Nowhere was the impact of the weather felt more than in the outerwear category, which saw sales more than double for the month compared to last year, while sales fro the last week of the year grew more than 150% versus the year-ago week. The category was probably the biggest disappoint in the retail fourth quarter last year, so this nice start should bode well for both retailers and vendor re-orders. The total numbers were driven by the gains in the full-line sporting goods channel, which closely mirrored the overall gain. Internet sales in the outerwear category were up nearly 150% for both the month and the week.
Snow sports hardgoods sales were up 5.0% for November, but jumped more than 22% for the last week of the month. Online sales were up 30%.
