The Board Retailers Association (BRA) distributed an electronic petition yesterday to core skate retailers to encourage skateboard manufacturers to attend the January Surf Expo. We caught up with BRA Executive Director Melissa Clary to find out more on the background of the petition and how she sees this playing out.
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The Board Retailers Association has launched a petition to encourage skateboard manufacturers to attend Surf Expo. Attendance of the show by skate brands has dropped off significantly recently, and BRA and its East Coast retailers believe this is harming core retailers.
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The Board Retailers Association released registration information for its BRA Retail Certification program, The Retail Survivor Series, in conjunction with Surf Expo to be held during the trade show in Orlando August 19.
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Need help planning for 2010? Make sure to check out ASR, September 10-12, 2009 in San Diego.
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The Board Retailers Association (BRA) just announced that Duke Edukas of Surfside Sports in Costa Mesa, CA, and Deepak “D” Nachnani from Coastal Edge in Virginia Beach, VA, have been chosen as the new Co-Chairs for the 2009-2011 term.
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The final day of The Board Retailers Association’s sixth annual retail summit featured speakers on merchandising, social media networks, and environmental initiatives in the action sports industry.
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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.
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The sixth annual Board Retailers Association Retail Summit is officially underway at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach, California. Check out photos and a brief synopsis from the first day’s events right here.
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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (April 16, 2009) – The Board Retailers Association (BRA) will host the Retail Summit VI next week in Huntington Beach, April 22 – 24, 2009 at the Hilton Waterfront. The Retail Summit is a three day educational conference with seminars focused on topics ranging from credit and debt management to pricing and discounting, interactive workshops focused on opening a dialogue between retailers and manufacturers, and fun networking opportunities. This is the first time this event has ever been held in the continental United States.
The Retail Summit will kick off Wednesday, April 22nd with a keynote address by Tommy Knapp, former Founder of Honolua Surf Co. and former SIMA President, speaking to retailers on strategies for winning in tough times. Since he has been both a retailer and a manufacturer, and is now an Adjunt Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at USC, he can provide insight into everything from customer service to keeping the passion alive. Following Tommy, retailers will hear a presentation by Cary Allington of ActionWatch, State of the Skate Industry, a retail and manufacturer panel on pricing and discounting as well as a Skatetech Seminar by Professor Schmitt.
That afternoon retailers will be treated to a beach demo day where manufacturers and retailers alike take to the water for an afternoon surf session. Later that evening, Volcom is hosting a Welcome Dinner and Reception poolside.
On Thursday, April 23rd, retailers will begin the day with a presentation by Dina Cipollaro, from Fundamental Training Solutions. She is going to lead an executive coaching session focused on leadership training. She has spoken at a number of snow industry events and has a great reputation as an inspirational and motivational speaker. Also that day are presentations by Angelo Ponzi of Board-Trac, State of the Snow Industry by Ed Wray of SIA, State of the Surf Industry and a surf manufacturer panel. Both ASR and Surf Expo will be on hand to lead an interactive discussion and answer retail questions regarding the new tradeshow schedule and added show benefits. That afternoon Quiksilver and Roxy are sponsoring a retail shop tour.
Friday begins with a presentation by Charlie Cotton. Charlie is an energized speaker who will address merchandising and visual presentation. Following Charlie, Mike Duncan will speak on Twitter, Social Media, SEO and PPC. That afternoon retailers will benefit from a seminar on customer service and employee training, as well as an update from SurfAid, the specialty retail survey results and an ASEC sponsored panel on action sports industry growth amidst a volatile economic environment. That evening, retailers will attend the premiere of the film Waveriders as part of the 2009 Newport Beach Film Festival Action Sports Film Series. Following the screening, retailers will be invited to attend the Action Sports post-party at the Sole Technology loft, hosted by Etnies, the NBFF and ChopShop.
BRA would like to thank all the manufacturers and vendors that have supported and sponsored the Retail Summit with a special thanks to our Headline Event Sponsors: Surf Expo, ASR, Quiksilver, Roxy, and Volcom.
Click HERE to access the Retail Summit VI Schedule.
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (April 1, 2009) – The Board Retailers Association has renewed its endorsement of ActionWatch, the action sports industry’s POS-based market-tracking service developed by AA Data Company.
“ActionWatch is an important service to help surf and skate retailers stay on top of national trends in the industry and to provide benchmark data to compare our stores against,” said Todd Roberts, BRA chairman and co-owner of ZJ Boarding House. “We encourage all action sports retailers to participate in this program – it’s free to retailers and provides many valuable benefits to its members and to the industry as a whole.”
The ActionWatch Retail Panel currently includes more than 200 independent specialty surf and/or skate stores throughout the nation. Participating retailers receive access to a series of over 50 relevant reports that are updated each month along with comprehensive annual reports that include detailed information on each significant product category and the performances of the top brands in each product class.
“In addition to the great benchmarking and trending data, one of the most valuable benefits to retailers is that ActionWatch helps increase the voice of the independent specialty retailer,” stated Melissa Clary, BRA Executive Director. “As this is one of the main goals of the Board Retailers Association, endorsing ActionWatch is well aligned with our mission.”
Retailers participate by providing monthly sales and inventory reports, which are translated into a product and categorization system, before being merged together. This process serves the purposes of combining the data into a usable format and also protecting the confidentiality of individual store’s information. Participation can be automatic or require only a few minutes each month, depending on the POS software used by the retailer.
“Market-tracking programs like ActionWatch can’t exist without participation of the industry’s retailers, so we really appreciate BRA for encouraging their members to be a part of the program,” states Cary Allington, co-founder of AA Data Company.
More information about the ActionWatch program can be found at www.ActionWatchReports.com.
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