In a besieged economy, the snow sports market is booming with $2.35 billion in sales representing a growth rate of approximately 13 percent over thevsame period last season. “The subprime mortgage crisis, the falling value of the dollar, increasing prices for consumer goods, and the high price of petroleum have hit the economy very hard but when the snow is good nothing will keep people off the slopes,” said Kelly Davis, Director of Research for SnowSports Industries America So far this season, all snow sports sales channels are reporting growth in unit and dollar sales.
Specialty shops already have sold $460 million in equipment, $10 million more than sales for equipment at the same time last season. The Internet channel is in the throes of dramatic growth with increases through January exceeding 43% in units and 48% in dollars. Even in the chain stores where overall sporting goods sales are down significantly, sales of snow sports goods are far from slouching.
Trends This Season include Sales of women’s specific equipment, apparel and accessories reached $675 million at the end of January surpassing last season’s total by $85 million with two months to go; 55,000 Adult twin tip skis have sold so far in the 2007.08 season making it the hottest selling type of ski on the market. Sales of twin tip skis are up 60% in units and 62% in dollars compared to last season in Internet and specialty shop sales; 500,000 people are protecting their skulls with new helmets so far this season. By season’s end, sales growth in helmets could be as high as 20% in units and in dollars; Sales growth exceeded 15% for the very popular
softshell parka. These parkas were purchased August through January by more than 450,000 people, some who hit the slopes and some who want to look like they do;
So far in the 2007.08 season, specialty shop sales represent 62% of all dollars spent in the snow sports marketplace with $1.458 billion in sales August through January. Specialty sales are up 8% in units and 7% in dollars compared to the same period last season. Equipment sells best at snow sports specialty shops, accounting for 31% of total dollars spent so far this season in the specialty shop.
Increases over last season were modest for equipment with a 1.43% increase in units and 2.22% increase in dollars sold. Some equipment is selling very well including adult twin tip skis that increased more than 30% in units and dollars and Nordic equipment including skis, boots, bindings and poles that increased 31% in units and in dollars. Apparel trends in specialty
match trends in the other two channels; softshell parkas sales have increased 15% in units and have brought in $27 million so far this season in specialty shops. People are deciding to protect their heads on the slopes this season and specialty helmet sales are up 12% in units and 15% in dollars with more than 1⁄2 million sold.
The Internet sales channel continues its amazing upward trend with $399.5 million in sales August to January. That represents an increase of 43% in unit sales, and 48% in dollar sales over the same time period last season. Apparel sales accounted for 55% of all dollars sold on the Internet, equipment made up just 21%, and accessories rounded out the channel with 24% of the dollars sold. Although equipment sales represented just one fifth of the dollars sold, sales were up 76% in dollars and 60% in units so far this season.“Buying equipment over the Internet isn’t the crap shoot it used to be; many people research their equipment online before they buy through any channel, and with clear and easy return policies and very competitive prices it isn’t surprising that more and more people are clicking to buy,” said Davis.
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