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Italian Boardsports Market Insight February 2021

2020 was crazy and 2021 is already shaping up the same way with so much still going on. For 2 weeks over Christmas, the whole country was in the red zone which meant people had to stay home, and household mixing was prohibited – 2021 was off to a bumpy start. By Franz Josef Holler

Times are tense and uncertain, where, due to COVID-19, shops and restaurants hop between being open and closed. Through the uncertainty spanning the nation, everyone is waiting on vaccinations to give us some space to breath and relax. Most companies closed the year with a loss in turnover, however there were some winners. Online stores, grocery stores and pharmacies, for example, had a killer 2020; overall, it was a very hard year for a lot of businesses, and many might even need to close.

2021 began with the news that ski resorts would not be able to open before mid-February, creating a difficult situation for many snow retailers, some of whom had already been heavily discounting products since late December, whereby they are struggling to make outerwear and hardgoods sales. However, retailers have reported splitboard sales have been doing consistently well throughout the pandemic, mainly due to the fact that splitboarding isn’t reliant on the use of cable cars, etc.

Alex Ricci from Asa Agency out of Faenza states: “Stores need help from companies (brands) to survive this winter, and with ski resorts closed, sell-through has been very low.” Alex, who is responsible for Jones sales in Northern Italy, also confirms the splitboarding boom by reporting that Jones splits had sold out way back in November 2020.

An absolute winner in 2020 which has continued into 2021 is skateboarding. Sales exploded in 2020 and so far in 2021, there’s no end to demand in sight. Wheels and trucks from US companies are hard to come by and completes are selling out before they’re even put on the shelves. The high demand for skate products has been very positive for Italian skate stores, as had hardgoods sales been low, many core stores would not have survived the COVID pandemic in 2020. There’s also been some other positive and exciting news in the Italian skate world: Jacopo Carozzi has become a pro skater for Baker Skateboards, one of the most recognisable US skate companies. At Baker, he has two signature boards. Congrats to Jacopo, an awesome dude and one of the best Italian rippers over the last decade.

Shoe sales are still struggling as bigger companies such as Nike, Vans & Adidas have near enough taken over the entire skate shoe and lifestyle market. A monopoly which has been confirmed by many retailers, including Lukas Höller from Sub skateshop in Bolzano.

2021 is definitely the year where all retailers will be trying to improve their online business, as with shops closed (as they were for many months last year), online is the only way to make turnover. Being an online business has become increasingly relevant month after month as 2020 has pushed digitalisation forward quicker than expected.

Italy’s vaccination program started in late December and everyone is pinning their hopes on the program providing some relief in late April / May. A good summer season will be crucial this year as spring is looking at a very slow start, on top of dropping sales in January, due to very cold temperatures and people being accustomed to staying home.

As if we didn’t have enough problems already, the Italian government entered a bigger crisis in early January; regrettably, the crisis has occurred during a pandemic, a time where a stable government would be crucial to get our economy growing again. However, this government crisis is nothing new as we’ve had over 60 different governments over the last 72 years. Prime Minister Conte is fighting to stay in his seat and his current opposition, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is trying to crush the actual government as he claims Italy needs a stronger leader and overall government in these critical times.

Let’s hope that 2021 will give us a bit of a break and good attitudes from North to South as people are tired of the COVID pandemic.

I’m out. Stay healthy & wear your mask.