January Outdoor Product Sales Pass $2 Billion Mark

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information contact:

LaRae Marsik, Outdoor Industry Association, 303.327.3514

Paul Gagner, The SportsOneSource Group, 720.272.9787

Winter Weather and Post-Holiday Sales Boost Outdoor Product Sales in January

Fiscal 2010 Outdoor Product Sales Approach $11 Billion

Boulder, CO — February 10, 2010 – Winter storms blanketing much of the U.S. combined with tempting late-season promotions lessen seasonal inventories and boost sales across the broad U.S. retail market in the retail month of January. According to retail point-of-sale data compiled by SportScanInfo for OIA VantagePoint™, the market wrapped up a stronger-than-expected fiscal year with total outdoor product sales ringing up over $715 million in retail sales for the four-week month ending January 29, 2011, a 2.3 percent increase over January 2010 levels. The full 2010 fiscal year (ending January 29, 2011) saw sales of outdoor products increase 4.0 percent to $10.85 billion over the 2009 fiscal total. Outdoor specialty channels grew 7.3 percent to $2.95 billion for the twelve-month fiscal period.

“Some of the marketplace apprehension seems to be lifting as we enter 2011, with consumers spending more optimistically and mother nature making quality outdoor products a wise and timely investment,” said LaRae Marsik, Vice President of Business Intelligence at Outdoor Industry Association, “Solid growth in the outdoor specialty business bodes well during this traditionally slower retail timeframe, as consumers wanted to pick their products off the shelf and use them immediately, resulting in a surprising dip in Internet sales this month to beneath January 2010 levels.”

Outdoor Footwear sales growth outstripped all other outdoor categories in January, with sales jumping 7.4 percent to $163.9 million across the channels tracked by OIA VantagePoint™. Sales of Outdoor Footwear in the outdoor specialty channels jumped 30.5 percent for the month to $33.8 million. Despite the sharp increase, Outdoor Footwear comprised 80.8 percent of total footwear sold in the outdoor specialty channels in January, compared to 82.3 percent of sales in the prior-year period as more shops diversify into running and other products, including lightweight categories. Full 2010 fiscal year sales of Outdoor Footwear grew 1.9 percent to $2.12 billion and grew 15.2 percent to $564.1 million in the outdoor specialty.

Outdoor Apparel sales didn’t experience nearly the same growth curve as Outdoor Footwear, as tight inventories of Fall/Winter seasonal apparel product and hesitant spring rollouts had sales inching up only 0.6 percent to $331.3 for the month. In markets where winter continues to rage, sales trends spiked in fiscal January, with New England posting a low-teens increase in sales of Outdoor Apparel during the four-week period. Full-year Outdoor Apparel sales were up 3.8 percent to $3.72 billion in fiscal 2010, with sales in the outdoor specialty channels up 4.5 percent to $1.24 billion for the fiscal year.

With the 2010 fiscal year now complete, OIA will be hosting an in-depth discussion of 2010 Outdoor Apparel trends and sales insights next week to delve deeper into the whys and wherefores of the 2010 year in Outdoor Apparel. The online education session will be conducted by James Hartford, CEO and Chief Market Analyst for The SportsOneSource Group, on Thursday, February 17 at 2:00 pm Mountain Time. To register for the webinar, please visit outdoorindustry.org/vpwebinars.

Beyond Apparel, Outdoor Hardgoods proved sluggish in January though the overall impact on the year was not significant as the month represented just 4.6 percent of total year sales in the category. Sales of Outdoor Hardgoods grew just 1.2 percent to $220.2 million for the four-week period, though the Internet channel saw Hardgoods sales balloon past the overall market with an increase of nearly 10 percent for the four-week period ending January 29, 2011. Outdoor Hardgoods sales were up nearly 18 percent for the full fiscal year in the Internet channel, contributing a large amount of the 5.0 percent growth in the overall market bringing sales to just over $5.0 billion. The outdoor specialty channels outpaced the broader market for the fiscal year in Outdoor Hardgoods, growing 6.8 percent to $1.15 billion for the year ending January 29, 2011.

Looking ahead, retailers are looking at a number of variables to forecast 2011 trends, with consumer credit use, an improving employment picture, fluctuating weather patterns, and increasingly inventive product lines all factoring in to retail success plans.

OIA members can access the OIA VantagePoint™ monthly trend report for January 2011 by logging in to outdoorindustry.org/vantagepoint.

OIA VantagePoint™ is the first and only full market point-of-sale data view built specifically for Outdoor Industry Association members. OIA VantagePoint™ provides comprehensive visibility into the outdoor marketplace by tracking weekly point‐of‐sale data from over 10,000 retail doors and websites carrying outdoor products, including over 350 outdoor specialty locations. In‐depth sales information is available online within five days of the prior week close – a competitive advantage for businesses who can shift critical resources and react quickly to ever-changing consumer preferences.

About Outdoor Industry Association

Outdoor Industry Association® (OIA) is a national trade association whose mission is to ensure the growth and success of the outdoor industry. OIA provides trade services for over 4,000 manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, sales representatives and retailers in the outdoor industry. OIA provides industry defining resources and support in government/legislative affairs, market and social research, business‐to-business services and youth outreach initiatives. Ongoing education opportunities and strategic business workshops provided by OIA include the annual Rendezvous®, Outdoor University® sessions, and the Capitol Summit. Outdoor Industry Association is based in Boulder, Colorado, and is the title sponsor of the Outdoor Retailer tradeshows. For more information about OIA go to www.outdoorindustry.org or call 303.444.3353.

About The SportsOneSource Group

The SportsOneSource Group is a full service market research company delivering solutions through consumer insight research, retail insight research and retail point‐of‐sale trending and analysis. The company provides the most reliable, timely and comprehensive sports and outdoor industry information available in the market today. SportScanInfo is a SportsOneSource technology platform developed to compile, aggregate and disseminate aggregated retail point‐of‐sale information. SportsOneSource also publishes the Sports Executive Weekly and The B.O.S.S. Report executive newsletters, along with the SGB, SGD TEAM Business and Performance Sports Retailer print publications and their related online, e‐mail and digital products. For more information about the SportsOneSource Group call 704.987.3450 or go to www.SportsOneSource.com.

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