At a press conference marking the start of the 2022 winter season, Intersport Austria looked to the future with cautious optimism. On the first weekend of the advent season, the retail group recorded a digital run on all the winter sports articles that its retail members are offering. Alpine skis, touring skis, snowshoes, bobsleds and sleds were ordered online and also picked up via click-and-collect. Despite all the difficult circumstances, the positive trend gave the cooperative’s management some hope for the winter and Christmas business. However, the outlook for the snowsports season is riddled with unanswered questions, depending mainly on how the Covid-19 situation develops.
Austria’s retail stores and many other public closed spaces are currently in a lockdown mode, scheduled to end on Dec. 13, with some regions planning to keep it on until Dec. 17. The buying group is rising to the current challenges with an enhanced range of services, with at least one of them offering even consultations over the internet. The number of retailers offering click-and-collect services has risen sharply. A total of 50 retailers have joined the internet platform launched by Intersport Austria 36 months ago, setting up their own online shops via the system. Meanwhile, Intersport Rent is offering a flexible booking system with a free cancellation option at www.intersportrent.at. Customers can book skis and other types of equipment online in advance and are served quickly and securely in the stores, which is permitted under the current anti-Covid regulations. In addition, following a successful test phase with selected retailers, Intersport Rent is also now offering to make the rented equipment available directly at accommodation establishments, although hotels and restaurants are temporarily locked down until Dec. 13.
Overall, Intersport Austria paints a differentiated picture of the economic situation of its affiliated retailers. While the more urban stores in eastern Austria have been able to compensate for at least part of the lack of winter sports sales with fitness and bike products, the Intersport Rent stores in tourist destinations find themselves with their backs to the wall. In the 2020/21 winter season, 95 percent of the rental business was missing. Even the boom in the touring ski segment, with an estimated 700.000 active participants in Austria, could not fill the gap.
According to Intersport Austria’s CEO, Thorsten Schmitz, a cancellation of the 2021/22 winter season would represent the worst-case scenario for the sporting goods industry. “The entire infrastructure and diversity in our tourism regions are in danger for the next few years,” he said. “With regard to tourism, European regulations are urgently needed, and Austrian government support must also take these conditions into account! An opening on Dec. 13 is is still a questionmark, but whether or not tourists will be able to spend their vacation in Austria is a completely different question.”
In this context, he mentioned the issue of short-time work regulations, especially for seasonal workers in the rental business. Schmitz estimates that the number of employees in the retail sector working short-time is very low, as the season has to be prepared – without any certainty that it will take place. A working group has been set up by Intersport Austria to draw up draft proposals for talks with the new Austrian government to provide the best possible support for the affected retailers.
