In the broader retail marketplace it appears that resolute shoppers braved winter storms throughout much of the country in the four-week retail fiscal month of January, trudging through extraordinarily snowy conditions to stock up on discounted cold-weather apparel while making the most of post-holiday sales.
Many retail analysts lowered their expectations in the middle of the month as the snowiest January in six years bombarded the Northeast and South with brutal winter storms, but the broader market topped expectations and outpaced a respectable year-ago period, wrapping up a stronger-than-expected fourth quarter.
Based on retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanInfo for OIA VantagePoint, total outdoor product sales at retail* reached $715. 5 million for the retail fiscal month of January, a 2.3% increase versus the prior-year period. Growth in the outdoor specialty channels, represented by the combination of the Independent Outdoor Specialty retailers and Outdoor Chain Specialty retailers, outpaced the broader market growth rate, increasing 5.2% to $195.3 million for the month.
Total fiscal 2010 sales of outdoor products in the channels tracked by SportScanInfo for OIA VantagePoint increased 4.0% to $10.85 billion for the year and outdoor specialty channels grew 7.3% to $2.95 billion for the twelve-month period ending January 29, 2011.
