The Italian snow sports market fared less well than others during the 2005/06 selling season, based on data released by the Italian Ski Pool, which groups all the major brands in the sector. Total sales of snow hardware were down by 7.66 percent to €98.3 million, as compared to the 12 months ended in March 2005. While sales of ski boots increased by 1.47 percent to €27.2 million, skis and ski bindings were down by 8.68 percent and 16.66 percent, respectively. The total number of alpine skis sold fell by 5.66 percent to 375,604 pairs, but there were increases in racing skis and women’s skis. The number of stores carrying the products of the members of the ski pool fell by 2.27 percent to an average of 722 per company. A total of 331,161 pairs of ski boots were delivered to an average of 569 stores per brand.