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German Market Insight, Autumn 2020
Once again, a lot has changed since our last market roundup. Last time we spoke about shops opening, regulations easing up and there was an air of relief in the industry coming into the winter season. The boardsports industry came out strong from the first half of 2020 so let’s take a look at what’s going on with regulations clamping back down again.
Things are looking a bit different now with ‘second wave’ being the buzz word and stronger regulations coming back again in Germany. Different regions have different levels of safety measures depending on their infection rates. If the infection rate per 100,000 inhabitants rises above certain levels (35 or even 50), smaller areas or even entire states tighten their protective measures or are declared as so-called risk areas. Snowboard season is on our doorstep and while hardgoods sales in boardsports soared in the summer months, last winter season was cut short leaving shops high and dry with product in their inventory. With that, boardsport enthusiasts are eager and ready to hit the slopes and regulations are set in place in Germany’s neighbouring country and ski mecca, Austria, to ensure safe shredding. Hitting the slopes is on, but the rewarding après ski is not as regulations won’t allow for it this season. But let’s hear it from the frontlines on what’s been going on in the boardsports industry.
Eric Bruweleit from Good Question Supplies gives us his take on what’s been going on and what’s in store for us this season. “The outdoor factor of boardsports has been a big plus that helped outweigh the personal fear of an infection. Since mid-August, the number of confirmed cases in Germany has gone up immensely which brings insecurity back to board stores. Despite the good summer business, shop owners have been alerted, sorting the situation carefully. Watching other countries or regions go back into lockdown mode doesn’t help either when it comes down to investing into sponsorships, events or other 1:1 activities. Good news: with snow, there will be snowboarding. It’s a passion, not a workout. It’s irreplaceable. And with all those foamies and 7plies being sold in the summertime, there will be new customers striving to go sideways on snow too.” When asked how brands and shops are supporting each other, he said, “it’s tough on both ends. Winter pre-books were logged before the situation got out of hand. Production is pre-financed, warehouses will be filled no matter the virus. Communication and flexibility will be the key factors to make it through this together. Planning ahead with a healthy dose of carry-over product to prevent discount competition and restructuring towards more sustainable business. And despite all the threads, we need to keep on refuelling any type of boardriders with vision and thrill, which means investments.”
When it comes to splitboarding the spirits seem hopeful as Johann Zeiger, Store Manager at Adrenalin Regensburg, explains that the restrictions could actually work in favour of splitboard sales this season: “Of course we bought a little less for the winter than last year. In addition, due to the abrupt end of the last winter season, we still have a lot of winter goods in stock. Now we hope for a good winter and can imagine that the splitboard market could run better due to restrictions in the ski areas. As far as the summer order is concerned, we won’t be ordering more because of this season. It’s all very unpredictable right now.
Talking about strategies in these seemingly uncertain times Philipp, owner of Lobby skate shop in Hamburg, has got the following for us: “Obviously we have raised our pre-order budgets for certain product categories or actually most categories. I‘m expecting a continuation of growth for the next years. With the whole Covid situation in the back of our heads and the unclarity of the US elections we didn’t go too crazy though. We’d rather be sold out than overstocked. With sneaker culture finding their way into skateboarding again, we have decided to add some brands like Stussy for example to our portfolio that appeal to a wider range of customers than just skaters. For skate shops I think it’s also in your own hands to keep your community growing. With skateboarding goods selling that well, you probably have the budgets to do so, so do it.”
Speaking with Marcus Geier, CEO at Epoxy Shop with three locations in Bavaria we have it on good authority that skateboard hardgoods and SUPs were selling especially well the past few months, which is no surprise, but what’s the feeling rolling into winter? “We took great risk for the upcoming winter season since we have not cancelled any of our pre-orders for snowboard hardgoods. We hope that the second wave will not hit us as hard as the first one and most of all we are hoping that the borders to Austria will stay open as well as the ski resorts. We feel very confident about our young active snowboarding target group that will take advantage of almost empty slopes this upcoming season,” explains Marcus.
Moving West, Heiko at Concretewave Skateshop, Cologne has the following for us: “For all shops the year was really good. Most shops but do not know what will happen next year and some are afraid to order more for the next season compared to this year. Some shops still have that huge longboard boom in mind from a few years ago and so they are not going crazy again with pre-books. We all know what happened after that huge boom! Nobody wants that again. But many shops already made a good Carver order for 2021! Our strategy will remain the same as the last 15 years. We try to have a huge hardware only selection. The Corona crisis was very, very good for all skate shops. Many people cancelled their holidays and bought a skateboard instead!”
Norbert Kindl, founder, owner, developer and splitboard rider since 1992 at Der Snowboardausrüster, Tegernheim, shares with us that touring skins and poles have been working well in sales and that their sales strategies and product orders will remain unchanged and are waiting to see how the market develops. His prediction is, however, that if the second COVID wave leads to another shutdown, ski touring will be affected, and sales will slowly decrease. He does suggest that the way to go in terms of brands supporting shops and vice versa is done with good after sales brand service. This means helpful information and news, trainings and good complaint handling.