Mike LewisSHARE
Memento Mori Series: $399 & BlackBlack Series: $319
monumentsnowboards.com
DEALERS@MONUMENTSNOWBOARDS.COM; 202.498.5333
Chris Glancy, Jonny Burns, and Dave Tran: MNMNT Consortium :
What are the biggest trends shaping the hardgoods market for next year?
More people are snowboarding these days of all ages, ability levels, and gender. You can cut and slice the snowboarding population in any number of ways and see who out there riding has a specific need, but the largest driving audience right now remains the perception of the core-park kid. Truth be told, if the industry is to stand on its own two feet, it needs to be looking at what the largest consumer purchase population is moving toward. If it’s the recreational “three-day-a-year rider” - lets smooth the boards out and make them more affordable. If it’s the core-park – let’s meet their needs. So, if by trend, you mean camber or pipe riders spinning back to back 10’s, those can shape the hard goods market but it’s not necessarily a good thing. We aren’t asking the true snowboarding population what they want; we’re telling them.
Chris Glancy
How have you responded to the industry-wide oversupply of last season?
Luckily we didn’t have much of an oversupply last season, and this season we sold out by end of November. This has never happened before. As a small company, we have to be careful of our numbers; we have to be smart with how much hard goods we overproduce and luckily we will not have a problem with overstock.
How are you working with retailers to help ensure strong margins?
The key continues to be strong communication for us - calling, advising, talking, working through the pricing issues with retailers. While we have to watch numbers carefully, we also know where we are and how we are doing - the strength of the small brand. We are extending economic stimulus incentives to our retailers as we did last year; and we will be unveiling new incentives at the trade show for show owners. Come visit the Monument Snowboards booth at SIA Denver to find out more!
Jonny Burns
How do you see the hardgoods marketplace evolving next year?
We see more online sales and tougher times for retailers. The internet isn’t going away, so we need to support snowboard and skate shops more than ever before. Wouldn’t it be nice if some of the larger brands brought their overstock in-house instead of selling it for pennies on the dollar on 3rd party websites (overstock.com, etc)?
What are the biggest changes you’ve made to your hardgoods business model in the last year?
We haven’t changed anything significantly - we’ve repositioned our high end boards to be more competitive with other brands.
What opportunities do you see for hardgoods sales? Are you focusing more on kids, women, rentals, core retailers?
We are focusing on core retailers while focusing on men and women for certain. We can find ways to position our brand alongside theirs and that should create a network of shops that supports Monument and we will find ways to support them equally. Again, larger brands have either shareholders or additional cost to worry about. We worry about ensuring the people who are on Monument decks experience the best ride and also that the shops carrying our decks are reaping the benefits of carrying Monument. Without working for these two customers our business would be pretty soft.
What opportunities do you see for hardgoods sales?
Chain and the web, both co-mingled and independent of one another, are a slippery slope. Right now, Monument is doing it’s best to steer clear of both as we need to complete the job of winning with our core target. Really, we do that and the growth of our brand will be more organic. If a huge e-tailer called tomorrow and said we want 10,000 boards we’d be hard pressed to say “no” but at the same time we need to think about how our brand is perceived as it is still new to most people. In some cases, that can do more harm than good; if we work closely with the retailer it could be a good thing if it’s the right fit for our brand.
Regarding high end product - who doesn’t love having a nice board, but a board over $400 is a huge barrier to entry for most of our core riders. Accessibility to snowboarding is key. Not pricing out customers from our best technology is of high importance to ensure they are getting a good ride. This translates into a win for the shop and for us.
What are price points doing?
Our MNMNT BlackBlack series (MSRP $320) is our best selling series. The second best selling series is the line above it, the FVK series ($349). We don’t differentiate the quality of graphics between our price points with our highest end board, just the materials; which makes the BlackBlack and FVK the most popular of our collection.
Must have, new technologies have been about the only things selling at full ticket. What are you introducing that shop staff can demonstrate to customers and convince them that they have to have?
Snowboarding, like skateboarding, is a pretty simple concept with a finite number of levers you can pull in order to enhance the experience. Reverse camber boards may be selling at full price, not that they are equal; step in bindings did the same thing for a few years as well with the recreational crowd. Snowboarding isn’t a trend or a fad despite how some marketers treat it but truth be told some technology … we don’t realize it’s long gone. Our biggest asset in this realm is connecting with the rider who is passionate about snowboarding - from the park rat to the mom & pop first day out. Educating shops on our brand and the strengths of what makes our products and brand marketable and unique to the consumers - it’s as simple as that.
Dave Tran
What are the biggest forces shaping the changes and developments you’ve made to your boards?
We value rider feedback and also listen to shop owners and consumers who write in to tell us their experiences. It’s a complex equation which is part-math and part-detective work about what they did or didn’t like; but for Monument, the only constant in our process is change.
What’s your philosophy on camber these days?
We have a few boards with camber. So does just about everybody else. It’s can be fun on certain days in certain places. Really, if it’s out there, that’s great because it’s another element to keep people excited about snowboarding.
Any new materials or construction technologies?
We’re still being eco-friendly and green with our process and materials as much as possible. We have been using materials such as bamboo for the past four years; and use local natural materials close to our factory to reduce the carbon footprint of our snowboards.
What themes are you seeing for graphics?
We align Monument with a pedigree of artists that defines the theme and visual direction of our brand. For the past four years, the aesthetic on our decks have been getting exposure outside the snowboard industry - being featured in fashion / design / lifestyle magazines and countless trend blogs. We treat each board as a piece of art; something that you would find in a gallery environment. While it has been risky being the anti-brand, our approach has been well-received by other companies inside and outside the industry since our introduction to SIA a few years ago. We’ve been doing collaborations with artists for four years before it started to be a trend in the industry as seen during the past two years. Our Creative Director, Christopher Glancy, curates the individual artists who will represent our products in each collection for the upcoming season. These artists are selected with the long term goal of building our aesthetic through partnership with these artists, not short term goals of adapting to momentary trends or cashing in on the artist of the moment. Each of our artists has a personal investment within the Monument brand they are aligning themselves with, as we give them full creative control of how they represent themselves within the project. We aren’t paying artists to re-draw our logo or work within a certain color palette that someone in the industry has predicted will sell. We are allowing the artists to put themselves out there and stand behind their creative vision.
What market segment are you focusing on? How and why?
We obviously want to reach males and females of all ages and different interests. Core rider needs have driven the industry, and they have been the segment that we always focus on. So if the old goal was to target the group that sets the trends (the rider that everyone else looks to for advice), then we’ve been successful. We’re focusing on getting the word out to gain more visibility outside the industry - creating positive interest in the industry is already tough. Creating interest in the greater realm of art/design/trends is even harder. When Monument is featured in the types of magazines and web sites that focus on trends and culture on a consistent basis reinforces our approach and branding. Our goal is not only to create awareness in the industry about our brand but to transcend the snowboard industry and be relevant in the design culture as well. These individuals are the ones that set the standard for the general public - and we strive to do the same for the industry.
Tags: chris glancy, dave tran, jonny burns, mnmnt snowboards, monument snowboards
