Last week the SIA (Snow Sports Industries of America) released their report on the 2013/14 season, looking at how the retail market has performed.
The key standout messages were:
- A new record revenue of $3.6bn was acheived
- Overall sales were up 7%
- Accessory sales were the biggest success area up 14%
- Alpine Touring is a massive growth area
- Protective gear has also done really well
21 Retail Sales Facts from the SIA 2013/14 Report
- The snowsports retail market finished with $3.6bn in sales, up 7%
- This was a new record high for the industry
- The snowsports market has more than 19m active participants
- Equipment sales were up 2% by revenue
- Equipment sales were the highest the market has seen since 2010/2011 when $913m of hard goods were sold
- This was the first increase in Equipment sales after two years consecutive decline
- Accessories were up 14% to $1.3 billion, up 7% in units
- Accessory sales accounted for more than 75% of the increase in specialist shop sales
- Online sales were up across the board with Accessories registering a 15% increase
- Online Clothing sales increased 3% to $424m
- Online Equipment sales grew 8% to $189m
- Alpine Touring/Backcountry equipment sales increased 8%
- Sales of Alpine/AT boots were up 27% in units to 93000 and 21% in revenue terms
- Alpine/AT boots make up nearly 12% of units in the ski boot market
- Sales of women-specific cross country equipment increased 28% to over $6m
- Junior girls snowboarding equipment sales grew 37% in units
- Overall snowboard equipment sales were flat at $256m
- Backcountry accessories sales including beacons, probes and shovels increased 12%
- Sales of protective gear increased by 24% in revenue terms
- Action camera sales were up 20% in revenue to $41 million, with 121,000 units sold
- Clothing sales fell 2% in terms of units, but were 4% in revenue terms
By Iain Martin