As retailers' inventories are getting cleaner - and in some cases very thin - in Europe and the rest of the world after two very good winter seasons, major suppliers are report big increases in last year's deliveries of alpine ski hardware, and they have strong expectations for 2011 pre-orders. Ski boots are performing particularly well because of a growing trend to rent skis and to spend more money for a good and well-fitting pair of ski boots, leading to higher average selling prices.
In addition to these factors, its new collaboration with Völkl helped Dalbello to push the volume of ski boots sold by last year by 25 percent in volume to 520,000 pairs, with an increase in value of 35 percent. Only about 5 percent of the volume consisted of OEM sales, which were flat. The Italian company, whose branded racing boots have started to become visible in the World Ski Cup, expects a further 25 percent boost this year.
Divorcing from Völkl has apparently been beneficial for Tecnica Group., too. According to a top executive, the volume of ski boots sold under the Tecnica brand name grew by 20 percent last year and a further 30 percent increase is now budgeted for the next season. Within the same group, Nordica raised the number ski boots sold by about 15 percent to more than 800,000 pairs, while the number of skis sold under its brand jumped by about 50 percent to more than 200,000 pairs. Blizzard had another good year with an increase of about 25 percent in volume to more than 150,000 pairs, and a rise in value of more than 35 percent. The Austrian ski brand doubled its presence in the U.S. and tripled it in Italy, and it is is planning to sell 15 percent more worldwide in 2011.
Elan's sales under its own brand reached 265,000 pairs, up by 18 percent in volume and by 20 percent in value. Sales went up by about 20 percent in Austria and the U.S. and by 25 percent in Germany and Italy. The Slovenian firm's move toward higher prices was confirmed at this week's Ispo with its launch of a range called Amphibio, which includes two models developed with Porsche Design.
Striving for better margins rather than higher volumes, the Rossignol Group is looking at an overall increase of only about 10 percent, with particularly strong performance for Lange ski boots and other products. Many customers have been unable to get reorders and are now planning to increase their pre-bookings. Particularly in the U.S., where its sales grew by 24 percent last year in a market that rose by 14 percent, iconic products such as the S7 free-ride ski disappeared from many stores already in November, triggering deals over the internet.
Rocker skis are selling particularly well at the moment. K2, which launched this category and is now focusing on it, experienced a 30 percent increase in its European sales of alpine skis last year, with a 40 percent jump on the German market. Skis represented about 40 percent of K2 Europe's sales of €60 million in 2010.
We reported some figures from Völkl in the last issue and we are reporting some in the next article from Amer Sports, parent company of Atomic and Salomon. Head says its ski sales grew last year by around 7 percent to 470,000 pairs, giving it a global market share of 15 percent. Its sales of ski boots rose at a similar pace and reached 530,000 pairs. An even higher overall increase of 15 percent was recorded for ski bindings, snowboards and shoes.
