The reality of a shifting holiday calendar reared its ugly head again in March as the broader retail market saw comp store sales stagnant at the end of the month. The shift of the Easter holiday deeper into April this year robbed
retailers of the opportunity to anniversary robust sales that occurred last year when Easter fell at the end of March. While the shift had an impact on the footwear end of the sporting goods industry, the move had little to no
impact on the businesses that were more reliant on the weather, the outcome of the NCAA tournament, Major League Baseballs season kick-off, and the start of spring baseball and soccer in many regions of the country.
Sports Executive Weekly provides the usual monthly overview of the broader retail market (see pages 6-7), but now enhances that coverage with a more granular look at the retail trade channels and categories most relevant to the sporting goods market.
The month of March came in like a lion but went out like a lamb in the athletic footwear business as rough comparisons to last year drained life out of the sector at month-end. Based on POS data compiled by SportScanINFO, projected sales of sport-related footwear were up in the high-single-digit neighborhood for March, which Sports Executive Weekly estimates translates to a low-single-digit decline in comp store sales for the period. It was a tale of two cities as brands that are reliant on sales of classics saw their fortunes diminish yet again even as the brands that have staked their claim in performance and fashion athletics posted solid double-digit gains.
There is clearly an earlier spring afoot in much of the country as sandal sales started to kick in as well after a very disappointing spring last year that saw sales of open-toe footwear push deeper into the summer. Based on the SportScanINFO data, sales in the category were up in strong doubledigits for the month, with most of the growth coming out of the full-line sporting goods, discount/mass, and family footwear channels. The surprise this year is not only the arrival of Crocs in the sporting goods channel in a
big way, but the fact that the freshly-minted public company may actually be driving price-points up in the category. It appears there may be a switch from cheap flip-flops for the Crocs fashion trend.
Premium brands like Keen are driving sales in the over-$50 range, while Crocs is taking share in the $20 to $35 range, a price range that saw sales more than double in a number of retail channels. Conversely, sales of sandals in the under-$20 range were down roughly a third in March.
In apparel, the performance end of the business continues to be fueled by the consumers move to moisture-management and performance-enhancing fabrics.
That old $6.99 basis tee has finally given way to a $24.99 performance tee, playing right into the strengths of the sporting goods business.
The total athletic apparel business was off in the mid-teens for the month, driven by a mid- to high-teen decline in non-performance product, offset a bit by a mid-teens increase in sales of performance product. The shift saw the
full-line sporting goods channel increase its share of total athletic apparel sales by more than 500 basis points in March, thanks to a swing of nearly ten full points in the channels favor when it comes to performance product. Department stores continue to lose share in this market as key brands focus on clean channel distribution. This trend favors the full-line guys that can dedicate more space to the category and are slowly figuring out how to address
the needs of the female consumer that is now driving much of this growth.
Mid-tier department stores and the discount/mass retail channels both posted sharp declines in the athletic apparel business for the month. The athletic/urban specialty channel posted the largest gain for the period.
Based on the SportScanINFO data, performance apparel made up nearly 30% of all athletic apparel sales in March, up from just over 24% in the year-ago period. Under Armour and Nike continue to battle it out over market share, while Patagonia joins adidas and Russell Corp. to round out the top five in performance apparel.
The total retail market for sporting goods, athletic footwear, and athletic apparel was basically flat for the month of March, with mid-single-digit growth in all major segments except athletic apparel and licensed apparel.
Footwear and apparel made up about 56% of total sales for the month and hardgoods made up the balance. The full-line channel broke down more heavily towards the hardgoods segments. The team & individual sports sector outpaced
growth in outdoor in March.
The team & individual sports sector saw particular strength in skating products, driven by the retractable skate phenomenon with kids, while bicycles & cycling products and team sports, driven by baseball/softball products, saw
strong double-digit gains for the month. The tennis business was off in the mid-teens, while golf showed modest mid-single-digit growth in total sales.
The team sports business also saw strength in the internet/catalog channel, but the business appeared to stagnate in the discount/mass channel. This could indicate that consumers are making that shift to performance products
in all aspects of their sporting goods purchasing habits as they drift towards the full-line channel for better product that is generally not available in the discount/mass retail end of the market.
