SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007 - (Page 13)

“The whole winter was about six weeks later than normal on the Eastern side of the country, said Steve Rogers, president ” of Sports Specialists Limited (SSL), the specialty sports buying group that represents more than 140 retail storefronts across the US. “But fortunately our customer understands that the winter can come late. He’ll just wait to buy, and as the season stretched out it gave the majority of our guys the opportunity to sell down their inventory. ” According to Rogers, despite a loss of margin, SSL retailers capitalized on the late season snow. The lasting impact of the strange season is his shareholders are “buying more cautiously” for the upcoming winter, but that they did create substantial open-to-buy and are “living to ﬁght another day. ” Rogers also said the future looks positive with the strong results in apparel, as well as aggressive jumps in twintip ski sales. TWINTIPS SPIN UP, BUT WHERE DID THE KIDS GO? According to SIA, twintips were the only ala carte ski to turn any real gain, with a comfortable increase of 11 percent in units in 2006-07. They didn’t completely escape the rough winter, however, as at the end of the season twintips were only 60 percent sold-through as compared to a 65 percent sell-through at the end of the previous year. The entire twintip category, which now includes both freestyle and all-mountain twintip skis, accounted for 16 percent of all alpine ski dollars, up from 12 percent in 2005-06. “There seems to be continued growth and interest in twintips, said HEAD Wintersports Director of Marketing Mike Bisner. ” “Our new J.O. Pro model is a clear winner for us. We sold out of the Mojo 105 last year in early November and expect it to do well again this year. ” Bisner said he sees women’s skis continuing to comprise a bigger share of the overall market, as well as women’s boots, and added that “There is still life for products that are truly unique in on-snow performance. ” But one category that remains surprisingly sluggish is junior sales. “Junior skis and boots being down doesn’t make a lot of sense when you see the numbers for the resorts because kids are coming back to skiing from snowboarding, especially in the early years, said Bisner. ” SIA reports that junior ski sales did indeed plunge 23 percent in units and 16 percent in dollars. In the Executive Market Summary, SIA stated, “We are fairly conﬁdent that many of those declines were offset by seasonal leases, but considering that the average rental ski spends 3 years in service, sell-in for junior skis will decline. ” Positively, junior alpine systems surged 52 percent and ﬁnished the season with almost 24,000 units sold. This matched the strength of integrated systems as a category. They ﬁnished the season with units and dollars up 7 percent and 5 percent respectively. Through March, 224,000 systems were sold at an average retail-selling price of $464, down from $473 in 2005-06. MOUNTAIN BOARDS BRIGHTEN SOFT SNOWBOARD SALES Hopefully Burton’s new integrated E.S.T. board and binding system (debuting this fall), as well as technological breakthroughs The 2006-07 season saw the rise of some exciting new categories at the same time that some older categories began to dry out with the lack of snow. Here is a quick snapshot of what was hot, and what was not, at specialty retail last year: SKIS Hot: Twintips aren’t just for kids anymore. Now comprising both APPAREL Hot: Insulated parkas were very hot last season, with gains of 19 percent in units and 21 percent in dollars. Women’s insulated parkas, accounting for 49 percent of all insulated parka dollars sold, gained an impressive 22 percent in units and 24 percent in dollars. Not: Fleece bottoms dropped 16 percent in units and 14 percent in dollars. Positively, softshell bottom dollars jumped 19 percent in dollars on a 9 percent unit increase. Not or freestyle and all-mountain categories, twintip sales jumped 11 percent in units and a staggering 24 percent in dollars. Not: Ala carte bindings. As integrated systems continue to dominate, freestanding binding sales plummeted 17 percent in units and 21 percent in dollars. SIA reports 183,000 pairs still sitting in inventory, 32 percent more bindings than were in inventory at the end of March 2006. Hot SNOWBOARDS Hot: SIA reports that all mountain boards, at $235 retail ($256 for adults), jumped an impressive 24 percent in units and 31 percent in dollars and was the only board category, excluding carryover, to show any increases. ACCESSORIES Hot: Technical day packs increased 3 percent in dollars while gloves increased 4 percent and mitts grew 5 percent in dollars. Not: Goggle units slid 1 percent and dollars remained even. Sunglass sales were down 13 percent in units and 17 percent in dollars. Not: Freeride boards sank 26 percent in both units and dollars. SIA reports that last season at this time freeride boards accounted for 39 percent of all snowboard dollars, this season just 32 percent of all sales. | SIA | T.I.P. | SUMMER 2007 | 13

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Contents Word off the Slopes SIA Staff Contributors SIA Business SIA Board of Directors Greening the Biz Want Instant Success? Just Add Snow Out and About Day in the Life – Supplier Day in the Life – Retailer Day in the Life – Rep Products & Services Index to Advertisers

SIA The Intelligent Partner - Summer 2007

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