SGB Executive

Planet Fitness reported another quarter of significant quarterly revenue declines and indicated club usage in January was still only about 70 percent of prior-year workouts. On the bright side, January marked the fitness club’s first month of overall net member growth since before the pandemic.

In his first quarterly conference call, Hervé Sedky, the new president and CEO of Emerald Holding, said the trade show operator is seeing “early signs of a comeback” with two shows, including Surf Expo Winter, able to be recently staged. He laid out a vision for the company that includes the ability to deliver 365-day customer engagement with the aid of digital tools rolled out over the pandemic.

The Top National stories and the Latest headlines across the Active Lifestyle Market for the week of February 15, 2021 covered in the SGB Updates and delivered to your inbox every business day.

When Surf Expo staged its winter tradeshow January 6-8, 2021 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, it marked the first in-person outdoor tradeshow in nearly a year since the pandemic began, bringing exhibitors and retailers together facemask to facemask. Did attendees, both vendors and retailers, feel it was a successful event worth attending? For that, SGB Executive canvassed the trenches for input from show attendees.

Canadian Tire Corp said fourth-quarter sales grew double-digits at Helly Hansen and were down slightly at the SportChek segment due to COVID-19 restrictions. The company also announced plans to close all 18 National Sports stores across southern Ontario.

Sturm, Ruger & Company Inc.’s sales surged 61.1 percent in the fourth quarter, lifting 2020’s overall growth to 39.3 percent for its first annual gain since 2016. Ruger’s CEO Chris Killoy said the company has hired 250 more production workers over the back half of the year to overcome widespread inventory shortages facing the firearms industry. He said, “Inventories remain depleted throughout the channel, so inventory replenishment provides further opportunity.”

Americans skateboarded, played tennis, surfed, camped, and played basketball at record highs in 2020, helping reduce inactivity rates to their lowest levels since 2007, according to SFIA’s 2021 Annual Topline Participation Report. While social-distancing requirements decimated team sports participation, recreational or backyard play saw an uptick and strong interest in kids returning to team play.

Garmin Ltd. reported sales in the fourth quarter came in well ahead of Wall Street expectations as sales surged 48 percent in its Marine segment, 40 percent in Outdoor, and 26 percent in Fitness. Continued double-digit growth was forecast for the three segments for 2021. Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and CEO, told investors, “Right now we’re believing that the trends that we’ve been seeing in the business over the past year are solid and will continue.”

Run specialty has finally embraced online retailing due to COVID-19 to support a strong sales recovery in the second half of 2020, according to the latest survey from the Running Industry Association (RIA). However, according to the survey, it’s still uncertain how big a driver online will be for the channel, and direct-selling continues to cause tension in supplier relationships. In an interview with SGB Executive, Terry Schalow, RIA’s executive director, explains more.

In 2019, textile manufacturer Milliken & Co. acquired Polartec from Versa Capital Management. This year Polartec celebrates the 40th anniversary of inventing synthetic fleece and the 30th anniversary of the brand. SGB Executive caught up with Polartec President Steve Layton for his thoughts on the company’s new owner, the pandemic and what’s next for Polartec.

At a webinar as part of Outdoor Retailer Winter Online, supply chain executives from Keen, Simms Fishing Products, NEMO Equipment, REI and Columbia Sportswear elaborated on how agility and the resilience of internal teams helped offset logistics disruptions caused by the pandemic, including ongoing port congestion and shipping container shortages.

Newell Brands reported sales in its Outdoor & Recreation Segment in 2020 were held back by weakness at the Marmot technical apparel business and Contigo beverage business due to reduced on-the-go activities during the pandemic. However, Coleman experienced its first positive sales annual growth since 2017.

Asics’s sales in its North American region fell 11.9 percent in the fourth quarter as continued robust online growth was offset by wholesale declines. However, Asics predicted a return to double-digit growth in 2021. Said Richard Sullivan, president and COO of Asics America, in a statement, “We have seen a sustained demand for our products across our owned and partner channels even given the circumstances of the last year.”

The Top National stories and the Latest headlines across the Active Lifestyle Market for the week of February 8, 2021 covered in the SGB Updates and delivered to your inbox every business day.

Callaway Golf Company CEO Chip Brewer let out an enthusiastic “wow” when looking back at 2020 during a recent conference call with analysts to discuss 2020 fourth quarter and full-year results.