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Italian 2021 Market Roundup
Economy update: It‘s looking promising for 2021, and 2022, as we are back to having GDP growth numbers around 5%. The tourism sector especially had a very good summer season…we had a lot of tourism. By Franz Josef Holler
Our only fear at the moment is a potential fourth Coronavirus wave, otherwise, the economy should continue on tskahis positive, upward trend. Also, our current prime minister Mr. Mario Draghi is giving us hope; he has the ability to be a strong leader, with a very high reputation, which is something our citizens are looking for. His appointment has also been good for the boardsports sector as (so far) the industry has had a successful 2021. The winter season will now be dependant on the regulations that are due to be put in place shortly, such as a green pass duty for ski resorts.
For many retail businesses right now, growth is limited by the availability of goods and price increases, both of which are negative side effects to the pandemic. When talking to retailers, like Alex Berger from Fakieshop Merano, we can clearly see hardgoods are being delivered late and some companies are cancelling parts of their outerwear deliveries. Something that’s worrying retailers is that if the selling season gets cut short again, many goods will have a very limited time frame to be sold at full price. Alex Ricci from Actionsport Agency states: “Something is sure, splitboarding will be the winner again for the 2021/22 season. Let’s hope the supply chain gives us, and the consumer, enough product”.
Skateboarding hardgoods sales have stayed stable, with the colder months experiencing a normal decrease. However, nearly all stores have reported that sales of skateboard completes are decreasing heavily as the market is pretty much saturated right now. Mostly, stores are complaining about shoe companies delivering late or cancelling styles due to factory closures in Asia, which is something we’ll have to deal with in 2022 as well. When checking out stores in Milan last week, I can definitely confirm that skateboarding and streetwear is big on trend with many different stores carrying all kinds of brands. When talking to the floor staff in Supreme [Milan], they said there was no noticeable slowing down at all, not even for high-end brands and products.
Like skateboarding, surfing is also on trend with hardgoods outperforming clothing. Frisco Skateshop, originally from Brescia is continuing its expansion and has opened stores in Milan and Turin. The owners have also confirmed there are more stores to come. Unfortunately, no new core snowboard stores are in sight and sadly even some of the bigger sports stores are cutting back on their snowboard offerings due to the decrease in demand. If you wanna sell snowboarding goods these days, you have to be active, organise events, spend time with the community in the mountains and be really passionate about the sport itself. The traditional snowboard industry in Italy has been going through some extremely difficult winters, as a retailer from the Milan area (who doesn’t wish to be named) stated.
This winter season is a crucial one again as another lockdown would be devastating for some retailers and especially for our beloved snowboard industry – another lockdown would be catastrophic. At the time of writing, now no new restrictions have been put in place so we’re all hoping for a happy winter season full of snow!
