For the past 32 years the SnowSports Industries America has released an “intelligence report” of topline numbers from the snow sports marketplace. This year is no different. Here are some of the bullet points we cared about:
$2.8 billion in sales of snow sports equipment, apparel, and accessories from specialty shops and Internet sales.
Online sales grew 12% in dollars and 23% in units
15% of all snowboard equipment was sold online
The average snow sports participant is about 30 years old, has a college degree and household income exceeding $100,000 annually
The snow sports demographic experienced a doubling in unemployment rate during the 2008.09 season as the economy tanked
It’s the middle of summer, but the Snow Industries of America wants everyone to know that the show’s move to Denver, Colorado (yee haw) is the best thing ever and they’ve got video proof from the likes of Joel Gomez, Dave Roseberger, Andrew Marriner, Rick Alden (and some guys we don’t know from some ski companies) in this six minute “come to cowtown” video.
World Industries is taking their warehouse on the road in the Southwest this fall with a fleet of vehicles that will be able to sell and deliver single board to multiple board or larger purchases right out of the back of the van.
“We’re really looking forward to using Southern California and the other select territories to test this concept,” said World Industries President John Dickinson. “The hope is to be able to build this program into a great benefit for our skate retailers and move it into all territories across the U.S. By bringing the product to the shops we hope to add a little more savings to the retailer, help them increase the frequency in which they update their product offerings, and give them better margins on hardgoods.”
There’s nothing like door-to-door service, especially in trying economic times. Follow the jump for the rest of the info. [click to continue…]
This morning, while surveying the action financial landscape from the comfort of our bed we noticed that Zumiez was up nearly 10 percent on morning trading to $16.87. Aside from making us wish we had purchased it at $7, we wondered what the deal was. According to Forbes it was an back-to-school upgrade from Wedbush analyst Betty Chen.
“We believe Zumiez benefited from solid back-to-school selling during the Labor Day weekend and while there may be some deceleration in the latter half of the month, we believe September sales will once again demonstrate an improvement from year-to-date trends,” Wedbush’s Betty Chen wrote in a client note.
We say this all the time, but this news kind of makes us wish we bought industry stock. . .but we don’t.
We just tried some new technology for the live blog of the International Association of Skateboard Manufacturers Open Board Meeting to see a replay (our blogging wasn’t all that interesting, honestly) follow the jump. [click to continue…]
After reading retail and brand specialist Bertrand Pellegrin’s (pictured right) new book Branding the Man: Why Men are the Next Frontier in Frashion Retail, SF Gate men’s fashion writer Aaron Britt went out with the man himeself to find San Francisco best men’s shopping environment. Their favorite: Mollusk Surf Shop at 4500 Irving St.
The large, open space felt immediately authentic, charmingly quirky and instantly right. The breadth of merchandise, sunny, smart and ineffably Californian aesthetic made you want to flop down on one of the couches to peruse a book of photographs or sneak into one of the hidden gallery spaces to check out the preponderance of art displayed. Owner John McCambridge did much of the design himself, and the homespun, design-school-meets-driftwood-collector vibe is altogether enchanting. . . Pellegrin called it one of the best new retail environments he’d seen in the Bay Area in years. “For a fraction of the cost most retailers spend on interior design,” he said, “Mollusk not only communicates its story but offers an environment that somehow doesn’t even feel like a store. It’s a state of mind. . . “I went back and a surfer walked in with his board, barefoot, wet and sandy and no one batted an eye. Now that’s authentic.”
Guess as a retailer you can’t really get a better review that this. Then again, if someone like Bertrand Pellegrin like’s your shop you have to wonder a little, don’t you?
West Coast brands can get as big as they want, but they still don’t count until they make it there. That’s probably why Nixon is so excited about this Bloomingdale’s deal sponsored by Marvin Jarrett’sNylon.
NYLON presents the launch of Nixon at Bloomingdales during New York Fashion Week 2009. Tuesday, September 15, 6-8pm Hosted by NYLON style director, Dani Stahl; DJ; Gift-With-Purchase* RSVP by Monday, September 14 to nixon@nylongmag.com
There are days when we wish we owned some Zumiez stock. Today might be one of them, according to Emailwire.
Zumiez Inc. is among the top percentage gainers in the few hours of the opening trade. The stock climbed to $14.28 with 16.76% gain and is trading with a high volume of 857K shares. . . three research houses reacted: MKM Partners upgraded ZUMZ from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’ with William Blair upgrading the stock from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ and Robert W. Baird upgrading ZUMZ from ‘neutral’ to ‘outperform’.
Might want to get in on this little rocket ride before she peters out.
Backcountry.com’sPresident John Bresee discusses user generated content and how his company has been able to leverage all those free worker bees into increased sales, in an interview with BusinessWeek.
Our belief is that user content should exist to directly support the products we sell. So we don’t have a video area where people can upload videos of people snowboarding. We don’t have any authority in the world of snowboard videos, but we do have some authority in that we’re good at selecting products for snowboarding. So that’s where the content goes—right on the product description pages.
Not exactly a new idea, but it appears to be working for them.
For the past 32 years the SnowSports Industries America has released an “intelligence report” of topline numbers from the snow sports marketplace. This year is no different. Here are some of the bullet points we cared about:
