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2020 Portuguese Boardsports Market Insight Roundup
We have reached that time of year where we look back over the ups and downs of the past 12 months. For the worst possible reason, 2020 will go down in the history books; the COVID-19 pandemic completely changed the action sports industry and the whole planet as we knew it. It’s been a roller coaster of a year: the whole world had a ticket, even if they didn’t want to ride it.
By Nuno Príncipe
In January and February, brands and retailers were hyped, preparing to enter the ‘Spring 20’ season with a bang! Portugal had the best possible economic forecast for 2020 due to the five-year tourism boom we’d been experiencing. For the first time in the country’s history since the democratic revolution in 1974, Portugal had a positive State General Budget of 0.2%. But all this collapsed like a house of cards when the ‘tsunami’ hit. Portugal was forced into a nationwide lockdown on March 18 which lasted until the beginning of May, which caused a brutal economic shock. During this tough time, brands and retailers had to reinvent themselves to survive, mainly by switching to focusing on online sales, an area of business that has registered a massive growth. Websites and social media were the only way to maintain engagement with customers, so businesses relied on using sales campaigns to try to sell products, most of the time campaigns included home delivery with free shipping.
Some international media outlets referred to Portugal as “the Portuguese miracle” since the country had some success at managing the first wave of the pandemic, with a lower death count compared to fellow European countries. Lockdown and other restrictions saved many lives and subsequently kept the National Health Service stable and far from being overwhelmed.
As of May 4th, Portugal started the gradual process of returning to the ‘new normal’ via a multi-stage plan: To control the spread of the virus, smaller stores were allowed to reopen before bigger stores. Surfers and skaters (as well as the whole of society in general) hit the streets again and went back to doing what they like doing best whilst following safety measures and keeping socially distant. Due to the cooperation between the Association of National Surfers, the Portuguese Surfing Federation and the WSL EMEA with the authorities, surfing was one of the first sports to receive a green light for restarting.
The restart allowed a crucial movement of customers back into the surf and skate shops that were trying to recover from the shutdown and were fighting to survive. Several stores cancelled some of their Spring 20 collection orders to reduce stock. Others with an overload of stock focused on marketing campaigns and promotions to sell their products. There was a lot of concern, uncertainty, and anxiety. The arrival of summer, the boarders opening, and the influx of Portuguese and international tourists resulted in an outdoor activity boom and an improvement in sales which exceeded many people’s expectations. Summer saved many stores from closing. Many shops went from stock overload to a lack of it, skateboards and bikes saw a huge rise in demand while at the same time surfboards, wetsuits and accessories also saw a huge demand. This showed that, more than ever, people wanted to enjoy the freedom they’d lost during lockdown. As for apparel and shoes, the demand was not so strong.
“After lockdown I was afraid and thought I would have to close the shop,” said Xenico Vidal, CEO of XEN&CO Surf Shop, one of the core shops in the Cascais area. “Since the government allowed small shops to open first, before bigger stores, people started to shop local which saved us. Surprisingly, we doubled our sales compared to 2019. We stopped applying discounts because our profit margin was very narrow. We gained some new customers that didn’t know of us before which is great. Let’s hope we all can overcome this situation.”
The arrival of Fall 20 collections left stores divided between hope and fear. Since September, the number of infections started rising again (much earlier than expected) and forced Portugal, as well as their European neighbours, to adopt tougher measures to try control the pandemic. This involved restricting people’s movements and closing stores earlier. At the time of writing in mid-November, stores and restaurants must close on weekends after lunch, which is kind of a semi-lockdown. The second wave is here. This will be a tough winter, so take care and stay safe.
