Snow Sports Market Proves Strong During Recession

Snow sports enthusiasts are proving that they are willing to spend on snow sports equipment, even when the overall economy is considerably down. August to October snow sports sales of $507 million were up 9% overall, boosted by very strong sales of carryover equipment for juniors. The industry considers “carryover” to be any item that sells for less than the average retail cost of the item.Snow sports enthusiasts are proving that they are willing to spend on snow sports equipment, even when the overall economy is considerably down. August to October snow sports sales of $507 million were up 9% overall, boosted by very strong sales of carryover equipment for juniors. The industry considers “carryover” to be any item that sells for less than the average retail cost of the item.

“Snow sports shoppers went out looking for bargains and they were willing to buy when they found them,” said Kelly Davis, Director of Research for SnowSports Industries America (SIA), a non-profit industry trade group that represents manufacturers and distributors of snow sports products.

The market data comes from the SIA Retail Audit conducted by the Leisure Trends Group. Every season, Leisure Trends collects data between Aug. 1 and March 31 from a representative panel of more than 1,200 snow sports stores that provide sales data from their Point of Sale systems. 

Snow sports industry sales were driven by pre-season clearance sales, which are dominated by leftover inventory from the past season, help consumers find deals on carryover items. Carryover accounted for 28% of skis, 23% of snowboards, 24% of ski boots, and 26% of snowboard boots sold August to October 2008. Compare that to last season’s August to October results when carryover sales accounted for just 16% of skis and 19% of snowboards sold and millions fewer dollars spent.

Junior ski sales were up 34%, junior snowboard sales increased 17%, junior parka sales were up 16% and sales of junior snow suits increased more than 40% in units and in dollars.

SIA has monitored the snow sports retail market for more than 30 years and historically, economic conditions have far less impact on the market than snowfall. When the snow is good, the snow sports market does well even if the economic outlook is bleak. The current recession has demonstrated clearly that the world is inextricably connected economically as the impact of the U.S. foreclosure crisis spread across the globe. Even in a global economic downturn the snow sports demographic continued to buy snow sports gear and history tells us that if it snows, then they will use what they purchased on the slopes.