The global market for inline skates is stabilizing or recovering after a strong and steady decline since around 2003, and some of the remaining major brands remaining are gaining market shares following the retreat of Salomon, which was selling about 250,000 pairs a year. Officials of Rollerblade, Roces and Fila’s inline skate licensee, MGM, all predicted sales increases of about 20 percent for this year at the ISPO show a few days ago, based on their deliveries and their orders. K2 was the only conspicuous absentee in the sector at the international Munich fair, but a company official indicated that it is enjoying a similar evolution.
The recovery of the global market apparently began in the USA with shipments for the 2nd half of 2006, although new products like those of Heelys have been creating some new competition for inlines lately, particularly in the children’s and junior segments. The European market began to recover seriously in February this year and through the middle of May, thanks to the very mild weather that turned the Spring 2007 season into the best one since 2000 or 2001.
As it turned out, many European customers who would have normally bought a new pair of skis for the past winter decided to spend the money instead on a pair of inline skates. Catering to the ski fans who have been disappointed by the weather, Rollerblade is sponsoring a biathlon championship on inline skates in Germany this summer as one of six grassroots-oriented events.
Retailers’ inventories of inline skates are generally clean now in Germany and other major markets, leading one major supplier to expect a sales increase of at least 15 percent for its Spring/Summer 2008 collection in Europe – and stability in the USA. Strong growth will certainly go on in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe and China.
Average selling prices are going up in the segment above $100 per pair, where the global market is estimated at between 2.5 and 2.8 million pairs. Customers are demanding better features in the more mature markets. On the other hand, Décathlon, Intersport, Karstadt and other major accounts are developing their own private label ranges of inline skates, offering them to the public with a favorable price/quality ratio. They are taking market share away from the brands in the children’s sector. The market leader, Rollerblade, is now trying to convince some European key accounts to adopt its own lower-priced Bladerunner range, which is still available only in the USA.
Including Bladerunner, Rollerblade increased its sales slightly last year to 870,000 pairs, and it ended the first half of this year with a further increase of 10-12 percent.. K2 was probably number two in 2006, with an estimated 800,000 pairs, and it has already reported strong sales increases. MGM, Fila’s licensee, came out third with about 400,000 pairs. It was followed by Roces with more than 250,000 pairs.
Roces and MGM have both had their problems in Germany lately. Roces is gradually recovering from the bankruptcy of its former German distributor, SICO, but it is banking on a big multi-year contract in China to boost its global sales. MGM is passing up a season where it got blacklisted by some major German accounts because Lidl advertised the availability of its Fila skates at slightly lower prices in its own stores, after obtaining a large lot through an Italian wholesaler.
At least one new entrant is trying to take advantage of Salomon’s departure and the recovery of the inline skate market. It’s Ukan, a company set up a couple of years ago by Pierre Charmeau, who led Skis Rossignol’s misfired diversification into tennis and inline skates during the 1990s. Backed up by a licensing deal with Michelin, the French tire company, Ukan delivered its first collection of detacheable inline skates to about 80 retailers in France last April.
