Weak snow equals inventory hangover

As expected, the third worst snow season in 46 years has impacted sales and inventories at stores that sell snow gear, according to recently released SIA RetailTrak data.

All told, total sales of snowboard equipment and clothing declined 12% in units through January.

This has lead to excess inventory in stores. Inventory of snowboards is up 24.5% over the same period last year. Binding inventories are up 40%, and snowboard apparel inventories are 32% to 37% higher.

Those extra inventories are likely to impact next season’s prices and retailer orders from manufacturers, said Kelly Davis, Director of Research at SIA.

The internet continues to gain strength. Despite the weak season, sales of snowboards, boots, bindings, and snowboard jackets grew in dollars online. The only category that declined online was snowboard bottoms.

By comparison, sales in each of those categories dropped in dollars in specialty and chain channels. Chain stores were especially hard hit, with sales of snowboards declining 14%, sales of boots dropping 13%, sales of bindings falling 22%, sales of snowboard jackets dropping 30% and sales of snowboard bottoms declining 26%.

In dollars, the South recorded the biggest decline – 13% – in snowboard equipment sales. Equipment sales in the Northeast fell 10%, in the Midwest sales in dollars dropped 8.5%, and in West, equipment sales fell 4%.

The data also shows that the top five sellers in certain categories are gaining a large overall percentage of sales.

For instance in men’s bindings, the top five sellers accounted for 31% of total binding sales. The top five bindings were Burton Custom, Burton Freestyle, Burton Mission, Ride EX and Ride LX.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the snow cover during winter was the third smallest winter snow cover footprint in the 46-year satellite record.

Snowpack was particularly limited across parts of the West, where parts of California, Nevada, and Arizona had snowpack less than half of average, the agency said.

Warmer than average weather was also common, with 27 states in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast recording winter temperatures that were among their 10 warmest.