Snow Sports Sales Declines Level-off in January…

The slow start to the ’06-’07 winter season continued into the New Year, but specialty retailers managed to gain some ground back from the losses experienced in December. At the end of December, overall Snow Sports sales were down 4% to roughly $1.1 billion. One month later, at the end of January, the overall market was down only 3%. Hardgoods sales were down 11% compared to last year, while apparel showed continued strength with a mid-singles increase in sales. Alpine and snowboard equipment both showed low double-digit declines for the period while, Nordic and telemark sales were both down in the low-30% range. This year, apparel will likely out-sell equipment at specialty Snow Sports retailers. The softgoods category is currently $36 million ahead of hardgoods.

While alpine equipment sales continued to decline this month, there were still some stand-out categories. Integrated ski systems continue to make up a larger percentage of overall sales, even while average selling prices continue to decline. Season-to date, all integrated ski system sales increased 8% in units and 4% in dollars. In addition, fatter system skis are becoming a larger part of the mix at retail. Mid-fat ski sales increased 19% with rising ASP’s, while fat and super-fat ski sales more than doubled season-to-date.

The overall twin-tip market remained relatively stable, growing 2% in units for the year, while higher ASP’s pushed sales up 14%. While most twin-tip skis are sold as a non-system ski, the brands that are integrating bindings saw more growth, up 198% for the year.

Alpine boots followed the same pattern as skis and declined in the high single-digits. High performance boot sales inched-up 1%, while all other categories declined.

While ski retailers are clearing out their old inventory, they are still able to get better prices, but only for skis. For the season-to-date, carryover ski sales increased 5% in units and 39% in dollars. Boot carryover sales were up 66% in units and 51% in dollars. Binding carryover sales were up 160% in units and 40% in dollars.

The early news leaks of the NTN binding and Black Diamond’s new platform, expected sometime in 2008, are prompting telemark skiers to wait one more year before upgrading their gear. Ski sales dropped 33%, boot sales fell 31%, and binding sales declined 34%. Nordic skis followed a similar pattern with skis down 36%, boots down 31%, bindings down 26%, and poles falling 19%.

Snowboard equipment sales were hit harder than alpine equipment this year. The only category of boards to show any growth was all mountain boards, which grew 28% in dollars, but this category only represented 14% of the market. The largest category, freestyle boards, declined 13%. Boot sales were down 21%; Binding sales were down 17%. Carryover board sales increased 41% in units and 33% in dollars; bindings’ carryover sales increased 81% in units, but dramatically lower ASP’s kept the dollar increases to only 26%. Boot carryover sales more than doubled in units and increased 72% in dollars.

Apparel was again the only category to show solid sales gains, and is likely to out-pace equipment this year. Alpine apparel tops were the driving category for the season-to-date with a 20% gain. Insulated parkas and softshells were the two main growth categories. Snowboard apparel did not see the same success as Alpine, but tops produced some growth to offset the declines in bottoms. With the winter weather getting better as the season moves on, the industry is expecting better results in the late season moving forward.