The SIA data just came out and last season’s winter sports retail sales were the second best of all time. Since I’m a nerd I’d love to get my hands on the SIA market data and report and dig in to it, but since I don’t have an extra $450 laying around that isn’t already earmarked for a new snowboard, I can’t.
(If you have access to this report let’s talk…)
It is interesting that sales were so good in a global economy where sales of just about everything else flat-out sucks. Skiing and snowboarding are essentially luxury recreations so it’s odd that sales are strong amidst global economic turmoil.
What sort of things contributed to this trend in a tanking global economy? Here are some factors that I think might’ve helped boost last season’s sales:
- Last year was an Olympic year; that’s probably responsible for part of the boost in sales.
- Last year was also a pretty decent winter for most of Western North America.
- Last year was an epic winter for most of the Eastern seaboard, from New England down to the Mid-Atlantic. Heck even Jay Peak (VT) had massive powder dumps in May.
The SIA’s press release promises the report will answer all the questions I can’t, and it also points to a few hot trends partially responsible for the industry sales last year.
First the growing popularity of helmets (+22%) was helpful. But this isn’t sustainable but at some point you reach a critical mass of helmet-wearers, and then only increasing your reach will be enough to increase revenues.
There was also a surge in backcountry skis, sales increasing by 57%. I guess when all those rich bankers lost their jobs, they moved West and decided to bum it for a season or two. Let’s just say I don’t blame them.
And last but not least the saviors of the winter sports industry – snowboarders. Many snowboard manufacturers jumped on the alt-camber train last year. Definitely a tech that’s here to stay. Although they might command a premium price for a season or two, alt-camber is really just cannibalizing the snowboard market (taking sales away from regular camber) so it’s kind of zero-sum in the long run I don’t think it’s really growth.
So what do you think? Should we look at last year’s sales as an indicator of what’s to come? Is the growth sustainable?
