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Golf 2009 - Not a Good Year | |
Data in the newly released NSGA Report "The Sporting Goods Market in 2010" quantified what U.S. golf retailers already knew -- that 2009 was a year they'd like to forget. Consumer purchases of golf equipment reached $2.8 billion, down 19% from $3.5 billion in 2008. NSGA forecasts a 1% increase in golf equipment sales in 2010.
Sales of golf clubs sold in sets reached $1.3 billion in 2009, down 26% from 2008. Sales of individual clubs (not sold in sets) fell 9% to $532.0 million in 2009. Sales of golf shoes, surveyed separately from golf equipment, experienced a 16% decline to $202.0 million. Sales (estimated, not surveyed) of golf balls were $726.7 million, and golf bags $242.1 million.
In the recently released NSGA Sports Participation in 2009 report, golf participation had shown a 4% decline.
Total U.S. retail sales of sporting goods (footwear, clothing and equipment), which slipped 1% in 2008, fell 3% in 2009, according "The Sporting Goods Market in 2010." For 2009, sporting goods sales reached $50.7 billion and are forecast to rise 2% to $51.5 billion for 2010.
Fifteen of the 24 equipment categories surveyed by the Association last year showed declines. The balance (except for hunting and firearms, which grew 14%) showed modest (2% to 8%) increases.
"The Sporting Goods Market in 2010" is a copyrighted NSGA consumer study that projects 2009 purchases of sporting goods products based on a survey of 100,000 U.S. households. National Family Opinion, Inc. (NFO) maintains the consumer panel used in the survey, which is balanced to parallel actual American household distribution as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Census, so that the data can be projected nationally.
"The Sporting Goods Market in 2010" is available for $295 for retailer/dealer members of the Association and free to manufacturer and sustaining members. For non-members, the cost is $340. The report comes in both printed and electronic formats. For additional information, contact Dan Kasen, NSGA, 1601 Feehanville Drive, Suite 300, Mount Prospect, IL 60056-6035. Phone: (847) 296-6742, E-mail: dkasen@nsga.org. or fax: (847) 391-9827. |
| Monthly Retail Trade Report: March Sporting Goods Store Sales Up |
Following modest growth in the first two months of the year, the Monthly Retail Trade Survey, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, reported a sales surge in sporting goods stores. For the most recent reporting month (March), sales were $3.39 billion (preliminary), 14.5% ahead of March 2009.
Driven by the March surge, year-to-date sales are 6.7% ahead of the same three months in 2009. Year-to-date sales for 2010 are $8.39 billion.
Sales for 2009 were $37.7 billion, up 1.6% for the year. This was the slowest growth since 2002 when growth was 0.2%. Sales for 2008 were $37.1 billion, up 2.3% from 2007. Sales for 2007 reached $36.3 billion, up 6.3% from 2006 sales of $34.1 billion. Sales in 2006, up 10.6% over the previous year, represented the strongest increase in the past 10 years.
The estimated annual sales for sporting goods stores in the U.S. Census Bureau Monthly Retail Trade is consistent with sporting goods sales reported in the NSGA study "The Sporting Goods Market." The U.S. Census Bureau estimates are based on data from the Monthly Retail Trade Survey, Annual Retail Trade Survey, and administrative records and have been adjusted using results of the most recent economic census. The NSGA study is based on a sampling of 100,000 U.S. households.
For a full comparative chart of sales in sporting goods stores, visit the members-only "Research & Statistics" area of the NSGA website (www.nsga.org). |
| April CPI for Sporting Goods Remains Negative | |
With little change in the CPI for Sporting Goods and the CPI for All Items in April and March, the CPI for Sporting Goods remained negative territory for the sixth consecutive month. The index fell 2.9% in April following a 3.0% decline in March. The previous four months had seen declines of 2.0% to 4.4%. It had risen 0.3% in October. These six months are the first in negative territory since June 2008 when the CPI for Sporting Goods turned positive and had remained there since then.
At 5.1%, the April spread is similar to the 5.3% March spread, but is well below the 6.5% spread in February. The February 2010 spread between the two CPIs was the highest it has been since February 2009. In that month, the spread hit 7.3%.
The CPI for All Items, which turned negative in March of 2009 and had remained there most of the year, rose 2.2% in April following a 2.3% rise in March 2010.
For 2009, the Sporting Goods CPI averaged a 2.1% increase following a 2.3% increase in 2008. These are the first years since 2004 that the Sporting Goods CPI has shown a positive change from the previous year.
For 2007, the Sporting Goods CPI averaged a 1.5% decline. For 2006, it averaged a 1.3% decline. For 2005, the decline averaged 1.1%; for 2004, 1.2%; for 2003, 0.8%; and for 2002, 2.6%. The Sporting Goods CPI reached its negative peak in December 1999, when it was down 5.8% versus the previous year.
In the past five years (2009 versus 2004), the Sporting Goods CPI average has risen just 0.6% in the face of a 13.6% rise in the CPI for All Items.
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Revenue Per Skier Visit Slips at U.S. Ski Areas |
In the face of declines in gross revenue (down 7.3%) and operating profit (down 19.0%) in the 2008/09 season, ski resorts look to one of their most important metrics -- total revenue per skier visit, or how much money on average the resort brings in per customer. On a total revenue per visit basis, that revenue declined just 1.4%, to $74.68 per visit, according to the 2008/09 NSAA Economic Analysis of U.S. Ski Areas.
Ticket revenue per visit was down a mere 0.1%, with other departments showing a greater decline on a per visit basis. The percent change in revenue per visit was inversely correlated with ski area size, with the smallest ski areas reporting an increase of 4.7% while the largest ski areas suffered a reduction of 2.1% for total revenue per visit.
Despite the decline in gross revenue, the much lower per visit decline of 1.4% suggests that those skiers and riders who did participate did not cut their spending as much as might have been expected.
In 2008/09, the industry also witnessed a decline in the ticket yield ratio (the average amount that ski areas actually collect on lift tickets compared to the advertised ticket window full price). Among the national sample of resorts in the study, ticket yield fell sharply to 58.3%, down from 61.9% in 2007/08. Customer demands for discounts and deals, as well as an increased level of season pass sales and usage, contributed to the decline in the ticket yield ratio.
The 2008/09 NSAA Economic Analysis of U.S. Ski Areas is prepared for the National Ski Areas Association by RRC Associates and is reported in the April/May issue of the NSAA Journal. For a more complete analysis, segmented into various size and regional categories, a full copy of the Economic Analysis may be ordered online at www.nsaa.org.
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Canadian Sporting Goods Sales Negative for Quarter, Positive for Year |
In spite of a 1.0% drop in the fourth quarter, retail store sales of sporting goods in Canada rose 3.1% for the entire year, according to Statistics Canada. Sales for Q4 2009 were $1,007.2 million (Canadian) versus $1,016.9 million in the same quarter of 2008. For the entire year, retail store sales of sporting goods in Canada were $4,398.3 million (Canadian) versus $4,264.4 million in 2008.
Statistics Canada, Canada's national statistical agency, functions in a fashion similar to the U.S. Bureau of the Census in this country.
For 2008, Canadian retail store sales of sporting goods had fallen 1.5%; for 2007, they had risen 2.6%. For 2006, Statistics Canada reported retail store sales of sporting goods of $4.2 billion (Canadian). This was a 6.5% increase from sales in 2005.
Non-retail store sales of sporting goods in 2008 fell to $124.0 million (Canadian) from $128.4 million the previous year, a 3.4% decrease.
Specialized clothing for specific sports is included in the total for sporting goods. Non-store retailers (infomercials, direct-response, catalog, etc) are not included in quarterly data.
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| Outdoor Recreation Participation Grows, Spending Does Not |
In 2009, American participation in outdoor recreation grew in important segments of core outdoor activities without increases in spending for those activities, according to the Outdoor Recreation Participation Top Line Report for 2010, released by Outdoor Foundation®. Initial data from the study shows that general participation in "core" outdoor sports and activities increased 3.3% to nearly 100 million participants. Cost-effective categories, activities that can be "done in a day," continued to post increases in activity: camping, hiking, running and bicycling.
Slightly more than four percent of active participants (4.5%) said they had spent more than in 2008, with the biggest decreases coming from equipment and travel. However, looking forward to 2010, there are positive signs with significant numbers of respondents set to increase spending in those categories.
Overall activity levels illustrate that while 77% of Americans age six and over took part in at least one activity that left sixty-four million people who are inactive. More than 50% percent of Americans take part in no activities at all or are infrequent participants.
The study also shows that activities at school age have shown to be a major factor in determining future outdoor recreation participant levels. While three quarters of respondents took part in physical education (PE) at school, slightly more a third took part in outdoor activities. PE at school continues to be a pathway to an active adulthood.
Outdoor Foundation's 2010 Outdoor Recreation Participation Topline Report details Americans' participation in outdoor activities from 2008 to 2009. The Report is a high level overview of The Foundation's full Participation Report, which will be released later this year with expanded data and full analysis.
Outdoor Foundation's Outdoor Recreation Participation Report is the only detailed study of its kind tracking American participation trends in outdoor recreation. The study is based on an on-line survey capturing responses from more than 40,000 Americans ages six and older and covers a variety of outdoor activities.
A copy of the 2010 Outdoor Recreation Participation Topline Report along with the 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report can be downloaded from Outdoor Foundation website at www.outdoorfoundation.org/research.
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