Outdoor product sales for the fiscal month of March rose 1.1 percent to $786.7 million, according to the OIA VantagePoint Outdoor Industry Monthly Trend Report released today by Outdoor Industry Association® (OIA) and The SportsOneSource Group. Early spring weather hastened the end of the snow sports season and accelerated sales of warm weather gear and softgoods in March.
Outdoor Apparel sales increased 3.2 percent to $245.4 million. Sales growth in Outdoor Apparel was strongest in the Internet channel (+37.7 percent) and the Independent Outdoor Specialty channel (+9.0 percent) for the five-week period. The Specialty channel represented one-third of Outdoor Apparel sales in March in the channels tracked by SportScanInfo for OIA VantagePoint.
Outdoor Hardgoods sales were up 1.6 percent to $381.1 million, led again by Paddlesports. Hardgoods sales in the Internet channel fell for the fourth consecutive month, a contrast to the strong growth seen for Apparel and Footwear in the channel.
There wasn’t much to cheer about in the Outdoor Footwear business in March. Outdoor Footwear sales declined 3.2 percent to $159.9 million on weaker Barefoot and Winter Boots business. The growth trend in Barefoot may have peaked after two years of meteoric sales growth.
Looking ahead, tepid employment gains in March may indicate that it wasn’t just retail sales that were pulled forward due to warmer weather; seasonal hiring may have occurred early as well. Continued high gas prices, a bumpy stock market, and ongoing uncertainty over Europe may give consumers pause just as the critical summer season is set to begin.
OIA VantagePoint is the first and only full-market point-of-sale data view built specifically for Outdoor Industry Association members. OIA VantagePoint provides comprehensive visibility into the outdoor marketplace by tracking weekly point‐of‐sale data from more than 10,000 retail doors and websites that carry outdoor products, including nearly 450 outdoor specialty locations. It is the broadest view of outdoor product Internet sales available in the market. In‐depth sales information is available online within five days of the prior week close – a competitive advantage for businesses who can shift critical resources and react quickly to ever-changing consumer preferences.
OIA members can access the January 2012 OIA VantagePoint monthly trend report by logging on to outdoorindustry.org/vantagepoint.
Outdoor Industry Association
Based in Boulder, Colo., Outdoor Industry Association is the leading trade association for the outdoor industry and the title sponsor of Outdoor Retailer. OIA supports the growth and success of more than 4,000 manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, sales representatives and retailers of outdoor recreation apparel, footwear, equipment and services. For more information go to outdoorindustry.org or call 303.444.3353.
The SportsOneSource Group
The SportsOneSource Group is a full service market research company delivering solutions through consumer insight research, retail insight research and retail point-of-sale trending and analysis. The company provides the most reliable, timely and comprehensive sports and outdoor industry information available in the market today. SportScanInfo is a SportsOneSource technology platform developed to compile, aggregate and disseminate aggregated retail point-of-sale information. SportsOneSource also publishes the Sports Executive Weekly and The B.O.S.S. Report executive newsletters, along with the SGB, TEAM Business and SGB Performance print publications and their related online, email and digital products. For more information about The SportsOneSource Group call 303.987.3450 or go to SportsOneSource.com.
