Board Retailers Association Summit: Day 2

josh hunter

• April 25 2009
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Day two of the sixth annual Board Retailers Association Retail Summit featured some interesting speakers, sparked some lively discussion, and raised mutual awareness about the current challenges both manufacturers and retailers are facing.

Dina Cipollaro from Fundamental Trainings solutions.

The first speaker of the day was Dina Cipollaro from Fundamental Training Solutions. She outlined in detail ways that retailers can better communicate with their employees to build a stronger team on the floor. The crowd had plenty of questions for her, and it was a great way to get discussion flowing first thing in the morning.

Next to take the platform was Roy Turner (above right) from Surf Expo and Andy Tompkins (above left) from ASR. These two tradeshow directors discussed the changing dates of the show schedule for 2010, and asked for feedback from retailers to help them plan for productive shows. Overall, several retailers expressed concerns about the show dates shifting to August—the middle of their busy back-to-school season. Both shows say these date are an “experiment” and that they are working hard to provide the best platform to do business for both retailers and manufacturers.

After discussing tradeshow issues, the group had lunch outside on the back patio before heading into another presentation by Board-Trac’s Angelo Ponzi (above). Ponzi discussed some survey results about the overall size of the surf and skate markets. According to the presentation, about 41 percent of teens spend discretionary money on fashion. The survey says that the average “active surfer” spends between $766 and 1,326 dollars a year, and the average “active skateboarder” spends roughly 1,000 dollars. Ponzi also says there are 49 million kids in the US between the ages of ten and twenty four—16.1 percent of which are surfers and/ or skaters.

After hearing about surf and skate, SIA’s Ed Wray took the microphone to shed some light on the state of the snow industry. According to Wray, there are 3.8 million male snowboarders and 1.4 million female snowboarders in the US. Of those, the average snowboarder rode ten days this season, which is consistent with last year. Reverse camber is a serious bright spot in hardgoods sales as well, he said.

He also said that 2008 hardgoods sales were broken down by channel as follows: chain stores=17%, specialty stores=69%, and online sales=14%. (see chart below)

2008 HARDGOOD SALES BY CHANNEL

2008 softgoods sales were broken down by channel as follows: chain stores=28%, specialty stores=48%, and online sales=24%. (see chart below)

2008 SOFTGOOD SALES BY CHANNEL

Following the snow industry update, SIMA’s executive Director Sean Smith (shown below) took the stage and shed some light on what SIMA has going on after making a heartfelt speech about Dick Baker, SIMA’s Chairman Emeritus who recently passed away after a two year long battle with cancer.

Smith didn’t get into the details of the SIMA’s bi-annual retail survey, which will be presented at SIMA Surf Summit in Cabo next week, but he did say that overall the industry has seen a 3.7 percent decrease in size since 2006. He emphasized that this was proof of the strength of the surf market, as other markets have felt much bigger declines due to the current economic climate.

Next up Tom Ruiz from Volcom, Paul Harvey from RipCurl, Tom Holbrook from Quiksilver, and John Wilson from Reef (shown above L-R) formed a panel discussion moderated by Todd Richards of ZJ Boarding House.

First panelists outlined how the economy has affected their businesses. Wilson from Reef described the climate as “hand-to-hand combat” adding that “We’re challenging ourselves everyday to throw out our old rule book, and re-access how we do business.”

Holbrook said that the past season was difficult, and told the specilaty retailers in the crowd that “None of the brands would be where we are without you guys.”

At RipCurl, Paul Harvey said the brand is focusing on making long term decisions, rather than short term solutions. “We’re working smarter and harder,” he said.

Ruiz said Volcom is focused on three aspects of business: the brand, the retailers, and the consumer. He said that by focusing on the fundamentals Volcom will continue to “deliver quality product on time.”

The most heated discussion came from retailers’ concerns about direct online sales and product segmentation. Mikke Pierson from ZJ’s and Bobby Abdel from Jack’s (shown above) were among some of the retailers to raise questions and concerns.

Ruiz explained that Volcom has been making its Stone Age line specifically for specialty accounts for almost three years, and that 80 percent of the brands account base is specialty stores. “We’ve seen a lot of retailers disappear,” he added, saying that direct online sales are something that brands have to consider to help absorb the lost sales. He also said that smart manufacturers shouldn’t be as worried about growth right now; they should be focused on margins.