Asics America Seen Outpacing U.S. Running Market

August 3, 2009
SGB Update

Asics America Corporation is forecasting high-single-digit growth for the 2010 fiscal year, thanks to continued growth in its running footwear business and strong sell-in for its apparel business. The company is estimating that revenues will increase between 6% and 7% for the first half of the year, and about 8% for the entire year.


“Our running category is growing even in these tough times,” says Rich Bourne, president and COO at Asics America. “We have strong brand recognition, excellent product and we are performing well at retail. These are all strong indicators that we have a sound strategy in place, and despite the challenges of the economy, are continuing to build a strong platform for continued growth in the future.”


The company said their running business in particular is strong, with an 11% increase for the year-to-date period. The growth was said to be driven by a stable of top-selling performance running styles including the GT-2140, GEL-Nimbus and GEL-Kayano. Women’s running also continues to be a main driver of the growth.


According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO, Asics posted growth in the mid-teens in Sports Footwear, the overall Running category and the Performance Running sub-category for the retail year-to-date period through June. Based on the SSI data, the trend for Asics in Running is outpacing the market as a whole, which increased in the mid-single-digits over the same period.


“The gap between sell-through and sell-in is roughly in line with what we see at retail this year,” said James Hartford, chief market analyst at The SportsOneSource Group, which manages the SportScanINFO platform. “Retailers are clearly reducing inventories and that is creating a five point gap on average between what we see sold in and what is selling through. The indications are that retailers are running very lean going into back-to-school.”


In an interview with SportsOneSource’s media members, Mr. Bourne indicated that the year started off flat in January and into February before really accelerating. He said they hope to get close to-and eventually get back to-double-digit growth again as the retail environment improves.


Bourne told SOS Media that footwear backlog was up in low double-digits at the end of June and apparel backlog was also “up nicely” posting a double-digit gain.


The SSI data indicates that Asics continues to pressure Nike for the top spot in Performance Running market share. Based on the SSI data, Asics has pulled to within approximately 400 basis points of the Nike brand in Performance Running Footwear for the year-to-date period through June after gaining three full points of share this year.
As reported by SportsOneSource in May, financial results for the 2008 fiscal year ending March 31 showed the company’s revenue at $510 million, a 20% increase over the previous year. In addition to the domestic growth, Asics America’s Brazilian subsidiary continues to benefit from a strong performance brand position resulting in high double-digit growth over the last year. Total revenues were pegged at $529 million for the year.


Asics America’s growth has contributed to the overall financial growth of parent company Asics Corporation, headquartered in Kobe, Japan, which posted a 7.0% increase (in yen) to ¥241.9 billion ($2.4 bn) for the 2009 fiscal year ended March 31, compared to ¥226.2 billion ($2.0 bn) for the prior year.

Asics America Seen Outpacing U.S. Running Market

July 28, 2009
SGB Update

Asics America Corporation is forecasting high-single-digit growth for the 2010 fiscal year, thanks to continued growth in its running footwear business and strong sell-in for its apparel business. The company is estimating that revenues will increase between 6% and 7% for the first half of the year, and about 8% for the entire year.


“Our running category is growing even in these tough times,” says Rich Bourne, president and COO at Asics America. “We have strong brand recognition, excellent product and we are performing well at retail. These are all strong indicators that we have a sound strategy in place, and despite the challenges of the economy, are continuing to build a strong platform for continued growth in the future.”


The company said their running business in particular is strong, with an 11% increase for the year-to-date period. The growth was said to be driven by a stable of top-selling performance running styles including the GT-2140, GEL-Nimbus and GEL-Kayano. Women’s running also continues to be a main driver of the growth.


According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO, Asics posted growth in the mid-teens in Sports Footwear, the overall Running category and the Performance Running sub-category for the retail year-to-date period through June. Based on the SSI data, the trend for Asics in Running is outpacing the market as a whole, which increased in the mid-single-digits over the same period.


“The gap between sell-through and sell-in is roughly in line with what we see at retail this year,” said James Hartford, chief market analyst at The SportsOneSource Group, which manages the SportScanINFO platform. “Retailers are clearly reducing inventories and that is creating a five point gap on average between what we see sold in and what is selling through. The indications are that retailers are running very lean going into back-to-school.”


In an interview with SportsOneSource Media, Mr. Bourne indicated that the year started off a flat in January and into February before really accelerating. He said they hope to get close to and eventually get back to double-digit growth again as the retail environment improves.


Bourne told SOS Media that footwear backlog was up in low double-digits at the end of June and apparel backlog was also “up nicely” posting a double-digit gain.


The SSI data indicates that Asics continues to pressure Nike for the top spot in Performance Running market share. Based on the SSI data, Asics has pulled to within approximately 400 basis points of the Nike brand in Performance Running Footwear for the year-to-date period through June after gaining three full points of share this year.


As reported by SportsOneSource in May, financial results for the 2008 fiscal year ending March 31 showed the company’s revenue at $510 million, a 20% increase over the previous year. In addition to the domestic growth, Asics America’s Brazilian subsidiary continues to benefit from a strong performance brand position resulting in high double-digit growth over the last year. Total revenues were pegged at $529 million for the year.


Asics America’s growth has contributed to the overall financial growth of parent company Asics Corporation, headquartered in Kobe, Japan, which posted a 7.0% increase (in yen) to ¥241.9 billion ($2.4 bn) for the 2009 fiscal year ended March 31, compared to ¥226.2 billion ($2.0 bn) for the prior year.

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