US: Outdoor apparel sales up 30% in January
28/02/2013
Retailers benefitted from good winter weather in many parts of the country as they increased promotional events to liquidate seasonal goods in advance of February floor changes to spring goods.
Outdoor hard goods sales were boosted by the snow sports category, which had been down in double-digits all year but rose nearly 28% in January. Overall, hardgoods grew 21% to $271.6 million in January.
The outdoor footwear business, however, was down in January, but OIA said these results were not a clear reflection of the health of the category. The decline was attributed to the mall retailer channel, which posted a 73% decrease due primarily to the collapse of the barefoot running category. Overall, outdoor footwear sales fell 4% to $194.3 million in the fiscal month.
In the first two weeks of fiscal February, outdoor apparel and hard goods both continued double-digit growth, according to OIA.
OIA VantagePoint tracks weekly point-of-sale data from more than 10,000 retail doors and internet sites, including 450 outdoor specialty locations that carry outdoor products.
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