Last summer while in Portland we had the opportunity to take a tour of Nemo’s Portland, Oregon headquarters with agency founder Trevor Graves. Having known Trevor for a long, long time, mostly as a snowboard photographer, we were blown away by how smooth, professional, and polished Trevor and Nemo have become.
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Looks like Shaun White’s halloween costume wasn’t just a wacky lark.
According to SportsBusiness Journal Wendy’s and Ubisoft’s Shaun White Snowboarding video game have basically bought out sponsorship of the Winter Diabetes 2 Dew Tour
A partnership that links Wendy’s and Ubisoft’s Shaun White snowboarding video game has helped the Winter Dew Tour sell out of its title sponsorships for the first time. The quick-service restaurant and the video game manufacturer struck a multifaceted partnership deal. . .
Now it’s all beginning to making sense.
[Link: SportsBusiness Journal]
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When Billabong announced yesterday (November 23, 2009) that it had “entered into a conditional agreement to acquire” online retailer Swell.com it brought to a close one of the most interesting action sports .com stories of the past decade.
Founded by former Salomon Smith Barney analyst Nicholas Nathanson and entrepreneur Jeff Berg in late 1999 following the first crash of the Internet economy, Swell.com tried nearly everything to find online success and burned through millions of dollars on the way. Management tried snowboarding editorial and e-commerce, skateboarding editorial and e-commerce, they formed a “strategic alliance with Primedia’s Surfing Magazine in early 2001 and yet nothing seemed to work. It was only after they got back to basics and became an online catalog fashion retailer in November of 2001 that the company appeared to stabilize.
Adding one more company to the list of his shrewd acquisitions over the past five years Billabong USA President Paul Naude spun this one nicely in the press release.
“We look forward to growing the Swell business and further developing it as a showcase online platform for the US boardsports industry,” he said. “The internet plays a significant role in the recreational habits of the youth market so it is important for our Group to ensure we provide them with a premium brand experience when shopping online.”
As hard as it is to believe, until this purchase, Billabong had made no real moves on selling direct online in the US. While Quiksilver hired Swell founder Nicholas Nathanson to build out their e-commerce platform, Billabong continued to sell online only through its retail network. More than anything, this purchase will allow Billabong to begin tapping into the higher margins that only selling direct can provide. That alone is a good enough reason for the purchase.
Billabong says Swell.com had an annual turnover of less that $16 million and that it would contribute less than 1 percent of the company revenue, according to a story on Goldcoast.com.au.
What will be most interesting is to see how many of Billabong’s competitors (i.e. Quiksilver, Volcom, RVCA, Rip Curl, O’Neill, Hurley) continue to do business with the online/catalog retailer after the sale is completed.
We’ve been covering Swell.com since the beginning in 1999. Follow the jump for a Sacklunch/Boardistan timeline of most Swell.com events of interest during the past decade (along with the commentary we wrote at the time) and relive all the .com good times.
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The Burton Corp’s artsy, woodsy skateboard company Habitat is celebrating its 10th year in business by launching a line of skate footwear that is reportedly “designed by skateboarders for skateboarding.”
Consisting of six models, the line also infuses Habitat’s signature design principles — branded colorways, visual balance, and attention to detail. “After 10 years of building a solid presence in the hardgoods market, developing a footwear line was a new creative outlet for Habitat and a natural next step in the progression of the brand,” stated Joe Castrucci. “Footwear is a great platform for the evolution of Habitat. Pre-season sales have exceeded our goals and we are excited for the full product launch early next year,” added Chris Carter.
Guess there wouldn’t really be a worse time to launch a new shoe line. So at least they’ve got that going for them.
[Link: The Skateboard Mag]
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Up anything is a good thing, right? While not even up 1 percent, it was good to see Zumiez up something for Q3. Here are some details from CNNMoney.com.
Total net sales for the third quarter (13 weeks) ended October 31, 2009 increased 0.8% to $113.2 million from $112.2 million reported in the third quarter (13 weeks) ended November 1, 2008. The Company posted net income for the quarter of $5.1 million or $0.17 per diluted share versus net income of $6.8 million or $0.23 per diluted share in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. Comparable store sales decreased 8.0% for the third fiscal quarter of 2009 compared to a 5.8% decrease in the third quarter of 2008.
CEO Rick Brooks is very proud of the Zumiez organization.
“I want to credit our entire team for our better than expected third quarter performance. By carefully managing our inventory, working closely with our branded and private label vendors to design programs that would deliver improved merchandise margins, and finding ways to inspire consumers who visited our stores, we were able to exceed our initial third quarter expectations and saw a meaningful improvement in our same store sales trends relative to the first half of fiscal 2009.
Things are looking up. Click the link for the complete financials.
[Link: CNNMoney.com]
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It’s not that we have low expectations from Neff, because that’s not it. We just always thought of them as a beanie and t-shirt company, yet, they continue to come up with stuff that seriously looks cool. Like these knitted headphones. We’re not going to wear them, but there is no doubt that they are cooler than shit.
And we’re guessing they’re going to move a few units as they are available at Urban Outfitters. . . which reminds us, wonder when UO is going to buy Neff?
[Link: Neff]
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A press release sent out yesterday titled 86 Companies Will Make Their Debut At The Snow Show by SIA talks about how many new companies are involved in the Denver show and SIA President David Ingemie is ecstatic.
“New companies take risks and provide the retailers with fresh ideas and excitement – they shake it up and keep things interesting year after year,” said David Ingemie, president of SIA.
So who are the “new” companies that SIA is so excited about? Some of those listed as “new companies” include Ski and Skiing Magazine (aka Bonnier Mountain Group), Briko North America, Kastle, Kneissl, Swivler, and Vans. All of whom have attended the show numerous times before. Debut?
We emailed Anovia Daniels, Communications and Public Relations Manager for SIA, so we could better understand the press release and she explained: “Many of them are brand new and some are companies that have revamped themselves and come back to the Show. None of the exhibitors were at the Show last year.”
Right. So there aren’t actually “86 new companies” making their debut at the show and the headline is for all practical purposes an complete lie, which may explain the “others are circling back” subhead. Damn those marketing people.
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What kind of weird voodoo economics are going on at The Buckle? While most other mall stores’ sales are chomping down on gobs of sun-blanched feces, The Buckle is reporting that their Q3 profits rose 15 percent “on higher online sales and sales at stores open more than a year, according to BusinessWeek.
For the quarter ended Oct. 31, The Buckle earned $33.3 million, or 71 cents per share, compared with $29.1 million, or 62 cents per share, for the same quarter last year. . . Revenue rose 10 percent to $231.2 million from $210.6 million a year ago.
Having visited a few of Buckle stores we can honestly say we’re at a loss to understand what they are doing differently from PacSun and Zumiez, especially since they are in the same malls, with similar product, often directly across the room from each other. . . weird. Maybe Affliction and Aqua VI are pulling them through.
[Link: BusinessWeek]
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You Will Soon‘s Dan Watson lays down some of the realities behind Berrics United and does it well in a post titled Unified Theory. . . Of Bullshit.
But what are the qualifications for a shop to be saved by the Unified Berrics? Is it the amount of work they’ve put into grassroots events? Is it proof that the owners actually skate? Is it a lifelong dedication to the culture of skateboarding? No it’s anywhere from 1440 to 5280 dollars. . . . Yes, as Exit Skateshop has pointed out via Twitter, what Berra forgot to mention was that the completely altruistic system that is the Unified Berrics is actually just a 12 month contract to have your skateshop advertised on The Berrics.
And as a commenter on Boardistan pointed out this morning that while Steve Berra says “there may be a war being waged” against small businesses by mall stores with “deep pockets and empty histories” The Berrics still sells product in the Canadian mall retailer West 49.
[Link: You Will Soon]
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OC retailers rejoice. There’s a Sanuk company store coming just in time for the holidays. Then it will go away.
Sanuk sandals has reportedly opened a temporary shop in the OC’s Downtown Disney according to a story in the OC Register.
Sanuk, an Irvine-based footwear company, is scheduled to open a temporary location on Friday, said Suzi Brown, a Disneyland Resort spokeswoman. The casual store is scheduled to close in mid January.
Just think if all the brands opened pop-up stores for the holidays. . . as if it isn’t hard enough out there.
[Link: OC Register]
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