While the sporting goods industry has recovered smartly for many retailers and vendors in 2010 after a brutal 2009, most industry executives appear to be only cautiously optimistic about the prospects for 2011.


That's the word from several executives Sports Executive Weekly reached out to last week as well as the general feedback from a recent e-mailed survey of SportsOneSource subscribers probing the outlook for 2011. Many are comforted that many Americans continue to favor an active lifestyle and the scores of big and small programs are out there encouraging people to get in shape and get outdoors. Many were also confident about the promise of innovations to create some buzz in the market.


One fresh concern is rising prices and delivery challenges emanating from China. Some retailers also continue to be nagged that more and more vendors are opening up their own stores as well as competition from the Internet. But the biggest lingering worry is the economy. While many are thankful to see the U.S. in recovery mode this past year, most are eying only slow growth until the job market wakes up.
Full responses can be found online at SGBQuestion.com. The following are a few of the responses:

 

David Campisi, president and CEO, The Sports Authority: We see spending confidence returning to the customer, but we are still very cautious about the economic challenges that the nation faces and how that will affect our bottom line in 2011. As for Sports Authority, our outlook is very positive for two reasons; 1) our product offerings, level of innovation, and color extension of products are the best we have seen in years, and 2) we are seeing a renaissance of the active and fit families who have been and continue to be our core customer.


Jim Weber, CEO, Brooks Sports: We're having a blast, and we expect 2011 to be another fantastic year for Brooks, runners, and our industry. 

 

The industry will be more crowded, more competitive, and faster moving than ever in 2011.  Product innovation and choice will accelerate, so Specialty Run Retailers – as credible editors of the best gear in the industry – will carry even greater importance to performance brands.  In other channels, runners will decide at the shoe wall who grows and who does not.  The running lifestyle will become increasingly relevant as more people seek personal health and well being.  Strong brands will be built through product excellence and an authentic conversation with runners.  The best products delivering the best running experiences will win.  With the run as our center of gravity, Brooks is excited to ring in the New Year!


Dan Winchester, VP, chief merchandising officer, MC Sports: Our 2011 outlook at MC Sports remains cautiously optimistic.  While we are very pleased with our current business trends, we still look at the general economy and employment situation with some concern.  We are seeing solid results in all our product categories, which points to the overall strength of the sporting goods retail sector. There isn’t one item or category that is artificially propping up our numbers.


One other concern is the growing direction of the sporting goods vendor community to want to enter the retail and/or direct e-commerce business.  This creates direct competition with brick and mortar retailers and is another channel that we need to compete against.

Jerry Williams, president, Schuylkill Valley Sports: We believe that the economy will be improving as the year goes on and that will impact discretionary spending that people have been holding back on.  What gives us some optimism is that with the Phillies signing of Cliff Lee (Sorry Yankees fans!), we see our local teams all going deep into the playoffs.  As we strengthen our position in licensed product and carry a deeper level of inventory, this should translate into plus numbers. One concern is that vendors increasingly selling directly to consumer on retail and the team sales side.

Will Manzer, president and CEO, Eastern Mountain Sports: I spend a lot of time looking at the bond markets and stock charts and economic indicators and I don't see an awful lot of good news in 2011. I see mild, mild growth. Unemployment has been stuck around 9.8% all year and as long companies aren't hiring, people won't get jobs. So I see a long, protracted recovery. And it's not the same for everyone. It really depends on how your state or local municipal budgets affect your business. So I think people are going to have to find very creative ways to draw customers into their stores. They have to offer a great value proposition. But we feel good about our business. I think people like the personal attention that a store like ours provides in this environment. They're looking for a warm place to shop – not just the cheapest price. But that's not every retailer out there.


Jim Zwiers, president, Wolverine World Wide Outdoor Group: 2011 is going to be about job creation. We're expecting the consumer to be fairly activated and energized for holiday 2010 and then the question will really evolve around the economy and job creation for 2011. We expect strong market share gains within our brands and we're hearing solid reports from our retailers about their outlooks for 2011. But there's some cautiousness around it. We need jobs to be created and not just in America but globally to drive dramatic growth in the economy. So it’s a guarded outlook. But there's a potential for things to get very strong if we can turn the corner and get some job growth.


Ken Sung, co-owner, Gazelle Sports, Grand Rapids, MI: We are Gazelle Sports are very optimistic regarding 2011, but feel that we have worked very hard to put ourselves in this position.  We have continued to invest in hiring great staff, staying engaged in our communities, and developed better systems to educate and motivate people to be active.  We continue to see participation numbers at local running and multi sport events increase, along with numbers increasing in our own training programs. 

 

This is definitely the “newer” runner who is coming into the sport, hopefully discovering the service and selection of product at our stores, and then telling others about their experience.
Bob Roncker of Bob Roncker's Running Spot, Cincinnati, OH: We had a very good year in 2010, but I still feel uneasy about the future economy.  I am cautiously optimistic about 2011.  We did well, but will it continue?  Too many people are hurting and I keep waiting for that to affect us.


Andy Vecchione, president, Polartec LLC: Polartec is optimistic about 2011. Consumer sentiment is much better today than it was this time last year and we believe the recovery will steadily continue into 2011. 2010 was a good year for Polartec as apparel brands and retailers became more optimistic about the retail environment and we believe the trend will continue. Our big concerns would be the volatility in raw material markets and utility costs.


Rey Corpuz, marketing director, McDavid: The outlook for the sports medicine category is very strong.  In the past couple of years during a downturn in the economy, we saw the category maintain a semblance of growth.  If anything, people limited spending on luxury items and focused on what was important to them – like family and personal health. What gives us optimism is new products. Last year, our snow sports line of HexPad protective apparel got distribution through a major national retail chain, as well as one of the largest internet retailers in the business. We also have developed a line of recovery apparel that compliments the compression line very well. We have seen a lot of interest from the running and endurance training community…Some concerns would be that fact that there are more retailers and dealers going out of business and there is consolidation in the team segment of the market. Finding good retailers/dealers that will continue to grow the business will be crucial the next couple of years.


Mike Cosentino, owner, Big Peach Running Co., Atlanta, GA: One thing that we've seen that has been particularly encouraging is that last year when the outlook was less optimistic and unemployment was less than it its now, our footwear did okay. Both our apparel and accessories business was weak. But our apparel and accessories businesses has been strong really all year long – even with a relatively mild weather we've had over the summer. I really see that as a good sign since a lot of our apparel purchases are really driven by desire more than necessity, like footwear. We are seeing an impact from China. We've seen delays in some shipments and we're not getting enough notice.