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2012-2013 Retail to Consumer Marketing Guide

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

By: SIA
August 30, 2012

As we come off a tough retail season to say the least, it is our mission to help retailers recharge their business for 2012-2013. This Marketing Guide is one of several SIA initiatives designed to help increase participation and stimulate purchase of new product from your store. Take the time to refresh yourself with the latest—and most affordable—ways to connect with your customer and strengthen your community.

This guide is packed with 24 different campaigns, separated into four segments of the season. Each campaign offers ad and postcard headlines, radio ads, several social media posts, html emails complete with images, and even in-store event ideas. Follow the messages inside the the Retail Marketing Calendar. Use them as suggested, or customize them to meet your needs—it’s up to you. Either way, you’re sure to engage your customer and help increase traffic to your store.

What else is in the Guide?

This Marketing Guide is just an example of the many programs and efforts SnowSports Industries America makes for the industry. It offers comprehensive, multi-faceted marketing campaigns to implement for your shop. We’ve separated

the snow season into four two-month segments, and suggest a variety of campaigns for each segment. Each campaign offers several different media vehicles to deliver your message, and is further broken down by sport. It’s prepared so you can literally copy and plug in the ideas, or you can use them as a starting point, further customizing them to best serve your shop and community needs.

Tags: 2012-2013 Retail to Consumer Marketing Guide, Retail Marketing Calendar, SIA, SIA Retail to Consumer Marketing Guide, siasnowsports, SnowSports Industries America
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Chip Clip! Merchandising Monday Tip

Monday, August 27th, 2012

By: Ali Levy
August 27, 2012

I was in a store today and saw this – a piece of metal with clips typically used to sells things like potato chips at convenience stores – here, used to display some canvas tote bags. Brilliant!

You can find these at www.carlson-store-fixtures.com The SKU is 7054 (or you can type “CLIPS” in the search box as I did) and they come in white, hold 12 items and cost $3.95. They come with a hook so they are a great way to cross merchandise hats, scarves or gloves alongside outerwear – whether it’s on a four way or wall system.

For more information about Ali and her company, contact her at alijlevy@gmail.com or visit her website, www.alijlevy.com. Also, visit facebook.com/snowsportsindustriesamerica for weekly Merchandising Tips!

Tags: #SIAmerch, Ali Levy, SIA Merchandising Monday
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SIA Merchandising Guide

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012

By: Ali Levy
August 23, 2012

Ask any retailer today what concerns them about the future of retail and you might be surprised by some of the vernacular used. There might be a discussion about “bricks versus clicks”, “showrooming” (checking out a product in a store and then purchasing it elsewhere for less) or “everywhere commerce” (consumers’ ability to make purchases in nontraditional ways via the internet or smartphone). Whether you own one or one hundred stores, the reality of a slower than expected economic recovery and being in an industry that is completely dependent on Mother Nature, combined with competitive pricing around every corner, it’s no wonder today’s retail environment keeps some people up at night. Yet recent reports on the state of retail today unanimously agree on two things: one that luxury retail continues to thrive and higher income people continue to spend money and secondly that the one thing retailers can do to help combat this firestorm – is to enhance the shopping experience.

SIA’s inaugural Merchandising Guide is meant to arm you with the tools and resources necessary to achieve shopping nirvana.

Now more than ever, a positive experience at retail is critical to attracting new customers and keeping the one’s you have. This SIA Merchandising Guide is your go-to source to help you create an engaging experience from the moment a shopper walks into your store, to the moment they walk out – delighted with their purchases – all with achievable and budget friendly ideas and resources. Of course this guide only scratches the surface of all there is to learn and know about visual merchandising, but it’s a start.

Description: Ali Levy Finding creative ways to merchandise that are easy to do, budget-conscious and innovative is always a challenge. SIA is working with visual merchandising consultant Ali Levy, to provide retailers with some fresh merchandising ideas for increasing sales and interest with consumers. Levy’s impressive resume includes managing retail, buying and merchandising efforts for some of the industry’s biggest names including The North Face, SmartWool, Cloudveil and Marmot. For more information about her company, contact Ali at alijlevy@gmail.com or visit her website, www.alijlevy.com.

Tags: Ali Levy, SIA Merchandising Guide
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Falling Leaves – Merchandising Monday Tip

Tuesday, August 14th, 2012

By: Ali Levy
August 14, 2012

Tips By Merchandising Guru Ali Levy, alijlevy@gmail.com

Yes – it’s true – Labor Day is less than one month away! I like this fall-themed window display. In this photo the leaves are made of leather, but you can make them from paper or cardboard and paint them if you want to get creative. Just add some rakes and whatever else you want that celebrates the changing of the seasons – pumpkins, fake apples, or a small wheelbarrow filled with items that highlight the cooler days and nights ahead.

Tags: Merchandising Monday, SIA Merchandising Monday, SnowSports Industries America
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SIA WINNING RETAILER OF THE YEAR: BUCKMAN’S SKI & SNOWBOARD SHOP

Monday, August 6th, 2012

By: SIA
August 6, 2012

Buckman’s Ski & Snowboard Shop in Pottsdown, PA was named the 2011 SIA SnowSports Mid-Atlantic Retailer of the Year for their contribution and commitment to the growth of the snow sports industry. Buckman’s Ski & Snowboard Shop is family owned and operated by Jeff, Nancy and Brad Buckman. Jeff’s father, Leon Buckman, opened the first Buckman’s Ski Shop in 1971 in Perkiomenville, PA. Known for great customer service and quality products, Buckman’s quickly became one of the area’s leading ski shops, with six shops in Pennsylvania. Overall, Buckman’s has 40 years of experience in the action sports retail industry and carries the largest inventory of ski & snowboard merchandise and rental equipment in the state of PA.

Jeff Buckman, owner of Buckman’s, took some time out to give us some insight on how to be a winning retailer and to give us some words of wisdom.

SIA: How did you get started in the industry?
JB: My dad started a ski shop in 1971 as a part- time, side business. When I got out of school, I decided to work full time for the ski shop and make it something. God has blessed us as the business has grown!

SIA: When did your shop open?
JB: The first store opened in 1971and now there are six stores in the Philly suburbs.

SIA: Tell us about one of your top retail success stories?
JB: My mind goes to the overall big picture and that is customer service. By taking care of one customer at a time, we have been able to form a very loyal customer base. In order to do this, we have to train our staff to be excellent in product knowledge and customer service. That has set us up as the go- to store in the Philadelphia area. Dedicated, awesome employees on the front lines are what make this happen!

SIA: Words of Wisdom…
JB: Have a strong counter seasonal business. We package and distribute swimming pool chemicals, which is 80% of our annual sales. This carries us through the lean years, like this one

Tags: Buckman's, Buckman's Ski & Snowboard Shop, Jeff Buckman, SIA's Retailer of the Year, siasnowsports, SnowSports Industries America
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TransWorld Business Catches up with SIA’s Kelly Davis for the ’11/12 Snowboard Season Sales #SIAdata

Monday, June 11th, 2012

By: Mike Lewis
TransWorld Business
June 11, 2012

While most of us are ready to put a fork in the ’11/12 snowboard season, we felt it was time to take a look back at how sales stats looked as we crossed the finish line. We caught up with SIA Director of Research Kelly Davis for an in-depth look at this year’s tallies.

“Overall, snowboard equipment sales (carryover not included) were down 4% in units and down 1% in dollars sold as retailers kept prices and margins healthy despite the warm weather and lack of snow in many regions this season,” explains Davis of a season, that could have been much worse. “In fact, the late season snow out west helped snowboard sales and participation significantly. Remember that one in five snowboarders lives in California.”

The reverse camber trend definitely continued to drive sales as well. According to Davis, “reverse camber snowboards made up 290,000 of the 395,000 boards sold this season. Unit sales of reverse camber boards were up 12% while normal camber board sales were down 23% in units. In fact, average retail prices for equipment increased 3% overall in snowboard equipment but margins fell about 3%—not bad relative to some categories in the market this season.”

But as we all know, things were far from rosy for most, especially on the outerwear front. Here’s an in-depth look at this year’s sales, margins, inventory levels, and regional breakdowns as well as analysis of the trends:

Switch it up!

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

By: Ali Levy
Merchandising Monday
May 29, 2012

I like the idea of showing an item – in this picture – a men’s plaid shirt from the Gap – in two different ways. You have your classic “shoulder in” view on the bottom and then a face-out view on the top bar. If you have a racking system that is similar to this configuration – why not try increasing the impact of a product by showing it two ways. A don’t forget to layer – for more visual interest!

You could do this on a four way floor fixture as well by using straight arms for the face-out and a U type bar for a shoulder in variation. Or try this as a feature window display!

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INFORMED CONSUMERS RAISE THE IMPORTANCE OF AN EDUCATED SALES STAFF

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

By: Lou Dzierzak, Lkdcom@visi.com
May 22, 2012

Lou Dzierzak No matter what day, time or season the questions never stop coming for sales people at snow sports retailers.

“I want to buy my daughter her first snowboard. What should I be looking for?”
“I heard about these new ski boots. Will they work for me?”
“I want to upgrade my bindings? What do you suggest?”

Specialty retailers often hire sales people who are enthusiastic about the sports the shop specializes in to address just these kinds of queries. At times, those “stoked” employees may not be accurately informing customers about apparel and equipment choices.

“I tell our employees to never BS a customer. That’s the worst thing that can happen. You will be caught quickly and lose all credibility,” says Jonathon Southworth, owner, Adams Ski & Snowboard, Dayton OH.

Since product knowledge is the lifeblood of a snow sports retailer’s credibility, storeowners place great emphasis on training sales people. Kim Pearson, co-owner Bill & Paul’s Sporthaus, Grand Rapids MI, believes the training begins during the job applicant’s interview. “Our hiring process is one of the most important parts of the success of our training program,” Pearson says, “part of the hiring process is determining “trainability” of that person. If somebody tells us they know everything they may not be the best candidate for us. Customers don’t like know-it-alls.”

3point5 training module

Tags: Adams Ski & Snowboard, Appalachian Outdoors, Bill & Paul's Sporthaus, Ken's Bike-Ski-Board
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Snow Sports Finishes Difficult Season Down

Friday, May 18th, 2012

By: SIA
May 18, 2012

Washington, DC (May 16, 2012) – Today, SnowSports Industries America (SIA) and The Leisure Trends Group released the most recent RetailTRAK™ numbers for March 2012, collected from the Point of Sale systems of more than 1,200 snow sports retailers. The snow sports market brought in $3.4B during the 2011/2012 season, $135M less than last season.

This season started strong with plenty of momentum leftover from the record-breaking 2010/2011 season and the promise of another epic winter of La Niña snow, but the repeat never materialized. In fact, the 2011/2012 season may go down as one of the worst on record. December brought sparse snow across the country and the conditions didn’t improve until the third week of January. The lack of snow put a significant dent in sales and in snow sports participation; the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) announced that skier/riders visits were down 17% across U.S. snow sports resorts this season to 51M skiers and riders on the slopes. Resorts brought in fewer visitors and less revenue and visitors bought less equipment, apparel and accessories in the snow sports market.

Source: SIA RetailTRAK™ produced by The Leisure Trends Group, Carryover not included.

Snow sports unit sales declined 12% overall this season, including a 17% decrease in units sold through chain stores and a 14% decrease in specialty shops. However, Internet sales did rather well, and increased 10% this year driven by late season equipment and accessories sales. This may indicate that many retailers are using commerce enabled websites to move product when in-shop sales have slowed. Excluding carryover, online unit sales increased 15% through February and March this season, compared to February and March 2010/2011.

End of season inventory levels are having a significant impact on sell-in for next season. Retailers were not able to sell through the gear they purchased from suppliers this season, which drove up costs and reduced cash flow used to purchase product for the 2012/2013 season. At season’s end there were 30% more units in specialty inventories overall. In fact, snow sports specialty retailers ended this season with 41% more equipment units, 46% more apparel units and 27% more accessories units sitting in inventory than at the end of the 2010/2011 season. Suppliers are reporting significant declines in sell-in for next season as retailers struggled to move this season’s gear and manage the costs of carrying unexpected inventory that will surely result in lower margins and fewer profits until the snow begins falling in the 2012/2013 season.

Topline/category retail sales data for the snow sports market is available as a member benefit to all SIA members. In addition, you gain free access to topline data for the Running, Outdoor and Paddle Sports when you register. The topline data is accessible on a 24/7/365 basis on the Leisure Trends Cross-Industry RetailTRAK™ data portal. Non-SIA members may subscribe to the topline portal for just $375 per year. To sign up for topline data click HERE.

The market data presented in this report comes from the Snow Sports RetailTRAK™ produced for SIA by the Leisure Trends Group. The Leisure Trends Group gathers RetailTRAK™ data directly from the Point of Sale systems of more than 1,200 snow sports retailers. For more information about snow sports retail sales information and other SIA Research products including the Snow Sports Participation Study, Revisiting Growing the Snow Sports Industry, the State of the Market, Model for Success, and much more, please contact Kelly Davis, SIA’s Director of Research at KDavis@snowsports.org.

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TransWorld Snow Conference: The Impact Of Parks & Sales And Participation Analysis

Friday, April 27th, 2012

By: Mike Lewis
TransWorld Business
April 27, 2012

The 2012 TransWorld Snow Conference‘s second day kicked off with a panel on the impacts of parks on participation and progression, followed by analysis of the season’s sales and participation data from SIA Director of Research Kelly Davis.

Below are portions of the presentations and more info on the talks. To see more coverage of the TransWorld Snow Conference, check out our wrap-up photos right here.

Sales, Fails, and Silver Linings: The State of the Industry

Kelly Davis, Director of Research, SIA

The day’s meetings got under way with a presentation by SIA Director of Research Kelly Davis, who began with a focus on the grim sales numbers from the season, following with the silver linings including increased frequency of core participants, growth in women riders, new young shreds on the slopes, and the growing diversity in the park.

Davis also highlighted the “Urban Woodsman” trend, think full beard and flannel, which was not only prevalent at the meeting, but has apparently taken hold in urban areas amongst former members of a metrosexual ilk. Axe sales (for cutting trees, not the body spray) are up 30%, and Tribeca even boasts a custom axe shop. Davis’s advice? Either move away from these co-opters and the trend or make ‘em pay to look like us!

Tags: Transworld Business, TransWorld Snow Conference
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