Words: Cary Allington
June produced more sales gains for the retailers on the ActionWatch same-store panel, which helped the stores earn a 9.4% sales increase during the full first half of the year. Sales were up for all major categories in the first half. When comparing sales for male vs. female genders, the smallest and largest gains were in the same category with male footwear sales up only 2.4% and female footwear sales up 33.7%.
In the apparel category the only struggling classes were polo shirts, denim and skirts while the other classes were flat to strongly up. The footwear sales gain was led by the phenomenal performance of women’s closed-toe shoes although men’s shoe sales were also up slightly. Watches, hats and socks were the strongest performing accessory classes, although sunglasses also showed a small sales gain.
All significant hardgoods classes were up with protective gear showing the largest sales gain during the first half of the year. Wetsuit sales were also up with a strong increase in the category’s largest class-full wetsuits-as well as an especially strong gain from the short john class.
Let’s hope for a second half of 2011 that is as strong (or stronger) than the first half.
Footwear showed an especially strong gain in June while the apparel gain was also higher than in May.
The ActionWatch Retail Panel includes 250 surf/skate independent specialty shops across the U.S. and is growing rapidly as more retailers join the free program. Retailers who participate get free access to a set of 50 reports updated each month. Retailers interested in joining the ActionWatch Retail Panel can get more information at www.ActionWatch.com.
All ActionWatch reports are made from the aggregated data of the participating retailers, which are located throughout the U.S. and vary in size from 750-square-foot shops to stores over 10,000 square feet. Data is collected monthly from electronic reports submitted by participating retailers.
TAGS: actionwatch, business in the front, cary allington, core shops
