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German Market Insight: Slow Recovery to Spring Sales Slump

Having to start off every Market Insight piece with news about the pandemic or the war is something that makes you really stop for a moment and reflect. It would be nice to write about something normal for a change. Or about how much fun boardsports are.
By Tobi Hammer

Sadly, however, we can’t change the situation: the war in Ukraine has been going on for almost 3 months now, that is, since 22 February, and unfortunately we too get nothing but bad news every day. The war is increasingly showing that people seem to be holding on to their money. Inflation in Germany is around 7% at the moment, and in our case this trend is not only affecting the retail sector.

Shipping prices are going through the roof, while petrol and gas prices continue to rise despite a tax cut on gasoline prices decided by the government.

This means that suppliers, retailers and online shops are confronted with this issue. What to do? That is the question. Raise prices? This is happening to trade almost every day. Free shipping? Charging the end customer for the shipping costs? We are seeing this in more and more shops. This has to happen just so that retailers can achieve a margin and profit at all. We will see it happen, it’s inevitable.

Unfortunately, companies in China are struggling as a result of strict lockdowns to contain an Omicron outbreak. That continues to translate into containers being loaded too late or not at all, and factories still not operating at 100%. This situation is likely to persist for a while longer.

And now let’s take a look at the sales over the past few months, which have definitely slumped a little throughout Germany. No matter whether north or south, come rain or shine. This may be due to different circumstances… some of which we have mentioned above in this article… Another factor in relation to our sports is, of course, the fact that travelling has become easier again. Festivals, parties etc. are taking place again as normal (thank God). But that also means you don’t necessarily need to buy an SUP, foil, wakeboard or new hardware. But enough is enough, slowly but surely we also need something positive… and that’s what we heard from Kai Fuhrer at Fuhrer Sports. His revenue is growing, especially in the textile/fashion segment. When I asked him what brands are performing best, he mentioned Carhartt, Volcom, Iriedaily.

I then followed this up with Mossi at Iriedaily, who also expressed his satisfaction with sales, including very stable reorders. Stock levels are normal for this time of year. However, Kai doesn’t know the way forward with hardware either, as longboards are unfortunately in the doldrums, while skateboarding is quite stable, but has declined extremely compared to the previous year.

Mossi, who also serves Quartar Distribution with Team Breyer Agency, experiences this too. He says that the reorders of complete boards are still limited, but that the shops’ own deck designs are on the rise. They also sell a lot of the so-called “small shit”, such as wheels, bearings, grip… etc.

We now come to the water sports segment: SUP SUP SUP. The sales hit of the last few years is experiencing a slump, partly due to the weather. On the other hand, this is also due to the fact that there are a lot of goods on the market and the warehouses are full. This is of course linked to the delays from last summer, and then the new orders that have arrived in the warehouses or are on their way there.

Sales are rather slow at the moment… the first online stores have already had to cut prices in order to generate cash flow. However, summer is just starting and sales have picked up in the second week of June. Jens from the 58 Sup Station in Ulm told us that before the holidays he especially sold cheap boards to the typical holiday family. Unfortunately, the high-end models are not going as well as hoped.

What is now attracting more people are events, he says: company events, birthdays, SUP tours, BBQs etc. at his station on the Danube. This is also connected with the festival effect… People want to get out and have fun again.

Ricardo from Santoloco in Munich also confirms this. More and more ocean surfboards are being sold there again… the reason is simply that people are flying to the sea and on holiday again. When asked about the current situation with brands, he answers:

“It’s still difficult, what we need is usually only available after weeks, as always. But it’s trickling in bit by bit.”

What are the most popular surfboard brands in his shop at the moment? “…Lost and Channel Island are the strongest in the PU sector. Among the ones with new construction methods (>Epoxy), Firewire and Lib-Tech are very stable, whereby Firewire is a bit ahead of the rest, because they have stock.”

How are other product categories working? “To be honest, textiles are performing modestly in our store, but that could also be due to a construction site on our doorstep… we’re a bit short of shoppers… People tend to come to the shop specifically for surfboard repair.”

We conclude this German Market Insight… with a new surf event created by Jens Höper from Wavetours and Michael Zirlewagen from layday layday: the Surfersweek in Seignosse, France. This took place in the first week of June. They created a new event format with the German Open. “It was awesome considering it was taking place for the first time. Over 1100 guests attended!” The event included three live concerts, Surfcontest German Open, Surfboard test, Surfskate side events. From yoga to surf flea market and a big party, there was everything.

In conclusion, we are glad that events of all kinds are taking place again and people are keen to enjoy and experience our boardsports. See you for the next Market Insight… with hopefully a lot of positive news and business.