June has traditionally been a clearance month for retailers in advance of the back-to-school season and this year was no different as retailers started to push the promotional button on a number of categories that were constrained by the odd spring weather across much of the country.
According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanInfo (SSI Data), sales of Sport Footwear for the five-week fiscal month of June grew in the low-single-digits in dollars. A low-single-digit decline in unit sales was offset by a mid-single-digit increase in average selling prices to $58.00 a pair.
“It has certainly been a strange spring season,” said James Hartford, chief market analyst at The SportsOneSource Group, which manages the SprortScanInfo.com platform. “Winter weather late into the spring season, coupled with lack of consistency in the spring weather patterns, pushed the purchasing window back so far into summer that the consumer may put off spring purchases altogether unless they see a great deal at retail.”
June is traditionally the biggest month of the year for sandals, according to SportsOneSource, and this year the sales were even more concentrated in the five-week fiscal month ended July 6 even though sales volume dipped slightly. June represented 36.8 percent of total sandals sales so far this fiscal year, compared to 35.0 percent in June last year.
While the basketball category traditionally experiences a lull in June, this year the business took a hit from the movement of a key Jordan release into fiscal July. Surprisingly, the Internet posted a higher average selling price ($118.52) for basketball footwear sold in June, besting the athletic specialty/sporting goods channel, which historically leads the pack.
Running Footwear had a mid-single-digit increase for June while Casual Athletic slipped back into negative territory for the month. Running shoes over $100 account for nearly three-quarters of the growth in running for the month. Running shoes over $100 represented about one-third of all dollars sold in running. Run specialty does about 20 percent of the business over $100, a much larger contribution than the channel has in the overall business.
One of the few bright spots for the month came from the walking category, which has seen a nice resurgence thanks to the Skechers GoWalk program.
The Internet continues to take share from other channels of distribution as consumers get ever more comfortable with ordering online for product they previously insisted be tried on for fit. The Internet channel represented nearly 9.5 percent of sales tracked by SportScanInfo in June, up from 8.5 percent in June 2012.
Sales at brick & mortar stores were essentially flat for the month.
Despite the weak results for the month, The SportsOneSource Group is maintaining its estimates for high-single-digit growth for the fiscal year.
“Fall weather that reflects more seasonal trends would drive considerable growth in the third quarter against a very weak fiscal Q3 last year,” explained Hartford. “A cold snap in the middle of September that maintains for a few weeks could fuel a strong back-half trend in the business.”
For more details on June and weekly Sport Footwear trends, please contact The SportsOneSource Group at 303.997.7302 or e-mail SportScan@SportsOneSource.com.
