As the numbers roll in for the retail fiscal month of August, it is pretty clear that retailers are looking to athletic footwear to keep footwear sales numbers in positive territory.  While the later back-to-school season has clearly impacted retailers, a resurgent mall business and trend-right athletic product and better perceived value are driving strong sales growth for the sport footwear business.  While retail comp store sales were estimated to be flat for the month, there is strong evidence that athletic footwear sales were up significantly for August.


According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanINFO, Sport Footwear sales were up in the mid– to high-single-digits for the four-week retail fiscal month of August.  Gains were strongest in the mall/urban specialty sector, where average selling prices were up more than $5 for the month versus the year-ago period, a clear indication that better goods and less clearance are having an effect.  The urban sector was reporting sales growth in double-digits.


The sports retailer sector, which includes the full-line sporting goods, mall specialty, sport specialty and Internet channels, matched the overall growth number for the month, while the family retailer sector, which includes mid-tier department stores and family footwear retailers, outpaced the overall market for the month.  Sales were down in the discount/mass channel.


Both Dick’s Sporting Goods and The Sports Authority have made statements recently about a strong athletic footwear business in the second quarter that seemed to be continuing into the fiscal third quarter.  Management at Genesco indicated that comps in their Journeys stores were up 9% for the first few weeks of August and Journeys Kidz was reporting 6% comp sales growth for that third quarter-to-date period.


In the family retailer sector, a shift to athletic is also driving sales as women move back to fashion athletic styles and away from other fashion casual looks.  Joe Wood, president of the Brown Shoe Co. retail business, said that they were well positioned to capitalize on the momentum in athletic in the Famous Footwear chain, and had shifted additional inventory dollars into the category for the back-to-school selling season. 


The positive influence appeared to be making its mark at Shoe Carnival as well.  While overall comps were trending down for the back-to-school period for the retailer when they reported their Q2 numbers two weeks ago, Cliff Sifford, chief merchant for Show Carnival also indicated that athletics had continued to see strength during BTS, driven by Chucks, Nike, and most traditional performance athletic brands, including Asics and Saucony. Children’s was also “very strong,” especially in athletics, with skate, girl’s low profile, and running all running ahead of plan.  He said the strength in athletic had been driven primarily by higher average unit retails, reflecting both increasing costs coming out of China and a strategy to buy more performance product and performance brands.

The overall market has not been as positive.  Based on a preliminary tally of 36 retail-chain stores compiled by the International Council of Shopping Centers, comparable-store sales for the four-week fiscal month of August posted a gain of just 1.7% versus the year-ago period.  The numbers were actually worse when excluding the Wal-Mart business, which posted comp store sales growth of 3.5% for the month.  Excluding the WMT numbers, the market turned in a flat month, but grew 2.0% when excluding chain drug stores.


Department Stores posted the largest comp sales decline for the month, with the group tallying a 5.8% decline for the period.  Even the Luxury Store end of this channel was down, posting a 5.6% decline for the month.


The sport footwear business appears to be outpacing its apparel counterpart.  The SportScanINFO data indicates that sport apparel was down in the high-single-digits for the month of August, with declines everywhere but the full-line department stores and Internet/catalog channels.  Performance apparel sales were up in the low-single-digits for the month, with gains in the mall offsetting declines in the discount/mass channel. 


SportScanINFO will tally back-to-school sales trends in two weeks, taking into account the first two weeks of September as kids assess trends and buy into new looks.