Author: SGB Executive

The 2021 school year will see a return to normalcy with in-person school resuming across the country, according to KPMG’s “Welcome To The New “Back To School” survey. Spending for pre-school and college students is expected to spike 32 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared to 2020. Spending for middle school and high school students is only expected to be up 3 and 4 percent respectively.

In SIA’s first report of 2021 on the impacts from COVID-19, snowsports enthusiasts were found to overestimate their ability to participate in their favorite winter activities in the recently wrapped up 2020/21 season. However, they made snowsports-related purchases at a higher rate than expected heading into the season and were excited about the 2021/22 season.

In an interview on CNBC unveiling Brooks Running’s new 2030 planet strategy, Jim Weber, CEO, reported sales are up 60 percent year-to-date and projected the overall running opportunity could double over the next ten years coming out of the pandemic.

Xponential Fitness announced plans to go public despite seeing a sharp decline in franchising revenues over the last year due to the pandemic. However, the parent of Pure Barre, Club Pilates and CycleBar predicted boutique fitness would recover by 2022 and again grow faster than the broader fitness club industry.

Nike’s shares catapulted $20.75, or 15.5 percent, to $154.35 on Friday after the sneaker giant reported earnings came in well above Wall Street’s targets for the quarter ended May 31 and issued bullish growth targets over the next four years through FY25. Analysts roundly hiked their price targets with many seeing the strong performance as evidence that Nike’s digital transformation is gaining traction.

At Hibbett Sports Investor Day on Thursday, Hibbett’s officials provided a deep dive into its merchandising shift in recent years toward athletically-inspired fashion products that are being guided by five customer personas: Streetwear Hound, Fashion Titan, Basketball Obsessed, Sports-Style Fanatic and Alpha Jock. Officials also elaborated on how the shift has helped Hibbett become a more important distribution point for key vendor partners.

At Jefferies 2021 Virtual Consumer Conference, Cliff Sifford, vice chairman and CEO at Shoe Carnival, said the off-pricer’s strong recent performance is partly because it didn’t cancel orders in the early stages of the pandemic and was rewarded with orders as inventory became scarce. However, he said those vendor partnerships have been built over time.

Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. reported its fourth consecutive record-breaking quarter and awarded sizeable annual bonuses to its employees as the firearms giant surpassed $1 billion in sales for the first time in its 169-year history. Sales doubled in the fiscal year ended April 30

At CNBC’s Evolve Global Summit, Lauren Hobart, CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods, said she believes that many consumers have permanently embraced active apparel and outdoor hobbies as a result of the pandemic. However, she also elaborated on the supply chain hurdles the chain faces catching up to that newfound demand.

Bombas was the top-ranked U.S. active/casual lifestyle brand in Stifel’s just-launched Sustainable Lifestyle Brands Index. Also making the Top 5 were Patagonia, at number two; The North Face, three; Adidas, four; and Allbirds, five.

In Clarus Corp.’s first discussion with the investment community since announcing plans to acquire Rhino-Rack, John Walbrecht, Clarus’ president, said the rack system manufacturer has a dominant share in Australia and New Zealand with the major initial opportunity expanding the brand to North America.

At Baird’s 2021 Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference, Jason Brooks, CEO and newly-elected chairman at Rocky Brands admitted that the company’s $230 million acquisition of Honeywell’s performance and lifestyle footwear portfolio was “probably not the optimal size” for the first acquisition for his management team. However, he described the acquired brands as “phenomenal” and detailed how they complement Rocky’s existing portfolio.

Profits at Thor Industries Inc. jumped more than six-fold in the third quarter ended April 30 as demand for RVs remains robust at retail and dealer inventory levels remain at historic lows. Bob Martin, CEO, said, “We see the increased interest in the outdoors and RV lifestyle as a fundamental shift in consumer preferences, a shift that began before the pandemic and picked up steam over the last year.”

In an interview with SGB Executive, Steve Lawrence, EVP and chief merchandising officer, Academy Sports + Outdoors, discusses the chain’s first-quarter performance marked by a 38.9 percent same-store gain and a significant hike in its annual outlook. He also digs deep into the expected growth drivers for the rest of the year.

Vail Resorts Inc. wrapped up the 2020/21 North American ski season by reporting steadily improving visitation rates for the third quarter ended April 30 and healthy season pass sales so far for the upcoming 2021/22 North American ski season.