Snow sports market sales declined 2.7% in January 2009 compared with January 2008 as cash-strapped retailers shaved margins to bring in bargain-hungry customers, according to the SIA Retail Audit conducted by the Leisure Trends Group. Snow sports consumers have not hesitated to buy items like hats, gloves, goggles, wax, parkas, fleece tops, sweaters, and winter boots this season but they are a bit more hesitant to buy equipment like skis, boots, boards, and bindings. Retailers are offering deep discounts on equipment to attract customers who are holding off on big purchases but are shopping freely for apparel and accessories like fleece tops, gloves, and helmets. �We have shaved margins to the bone and beyond on equipment this season,� said Paul Prutzman, Pinnacle Sports, Reading PA.
Current year model equipment sales are down 7% in alpine ski and snowboard equipment while carryover sales accounted for 29% of all alpine skis sold and 24% of all snowboards sold so far this season.
Alpine ski and snowboard equipment sales have decreased just 5% overall compared to this time last season but were heavily leveraged by sales of carryover equipment. Carryover is defined as anything sold at less than the average wholesale cost of that item. The equipment category is not without bright spots such as strong sales of twin tip skis, high performance alpine ski boots, and reverse camber snowboards. �We lost of lot of business because people are holding off on their ski vacations and are just not buying big ticket items. They are buying accessories for $30 but they won�t spend $500 for a new jacket or new equipment. One piece of equipment they are buying is reverse camber boards, we should have quadrupled our order on those,� said Bill Langlands, Darkside Snowboards, VT.
Overall apparel sales are down 3% but snowboard apparel, shell parkas and fleece sales remained strong. Accessories continued to sell well and sales were up 3% compared to this time last season. Hats, goggles, gloves, and wax led the market as skiers and riders snapped these accessories up before they hit the slopes.
Apparel sales total $921 million through January and accounted for more than 40% of all dollars spent. Fleece continues to be the big seller in the snow sports apparel market with $187 million in sales, which was flat compared to Aug-Jan sales last season. Adult shell parkas sales increased 2% so far this season and snowboard apparel continued to sell well increasing 2% in dollars sold compared to last season. Interestingly, sales of alpine and snowboard tops including parkas, fleece, snow suits, vests and sweaters were down 3% but alpine ski and snowboard pants sales sank 9% compared to last season. This difference may be explained by non-skiers and riders purchasing snow sports apparel fleece, jackets, and sweaters because they are functional, comfortable and attractive on and off the slopes.
Accessories sales were excellent as skiers and snowboarders picked up the necessities before hitting the slopes. Strong sales of new hats, gloves, goggles and wax helped the accessories market increase by 3% over this time last season.
The Internet/Catalog sales channel enjoyed continued strong growth in January, gaining 13% in dollars and 27% in units compared to August to January 2007/08. Overall, consumers have spent $449 million on snow sports equipment, apparel, and accessories online. Internet/Catalog sales comprised 19% of all the dollars consumers spent on snow sports products in the U.S. between Aug. 1, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2009.
The specialty channel was hit hardest by declining sales in December losing $65 million in sales, roughly 5% in dollars and 3% in units compared to last season. Specialty shops were responsible for $1.447 billion of the 2.3 billion in total sales (includes specialty shops, chain stores, and online sales) for the snow sports marketplace August through January 2009. One reason for this decline is that consumers still prefer to buy their equipment in specialty shops. In fact, 77% of alpine equipment, 73% of Nordic gear, and 63% of all snowboard equipment was sold in specialty shops so far this season.
Chain stores� equipment sales continue to tank with total decreases of 18% in dollars and 14% in units. Alpine ski sales are down 21% and snowboard equipment sales decreased 20%. Chain stores equipment sales accounted for just 16% of all equipment sales in the U.S. snow sports marketplace from August to January this season. Apparel sales decreased just 2% to $195 million and sales of accessories in chain stores increased over last season by 2% in dollars and 4% in units.
The market data presented in this report comes from the SIA Retail Audit conducted by the Leisure Trends Group.
Each season, Leisure Trends gathers data between Aug. 1 and Mar. 31 from a representative panel of more than 1,200 snow sports retailers who provide sales data directly from their Point of Sale systems. The panel and the method for extrapolating the results out to the entire industry is based on a triennial census of snow sports retailers designed to accurately define the size and structure of the snow sports retail marketplace.
