Sneakernomics: Nobody Wins a Race to the Bottom

According to Matt Powell, Holiday 2017 was the most promotional on record for the U.S. sports industry – that is, until Holiday 2018. Powell says we need to return the industry to one of aspiration and inspiration, or we face the risk of running a race to the bottom; and that’s a race nobody wins. A new year brings new opportunity to change course.

Sneakernomics: Hot Topics at the Outdoor Retailer Show

At Outdoor Retailer’s first ever November show, Matt Powell put a different spin on his industry trend breakfast. Here are some the questions and common themes he identified as being top of mind for folks in the industry.

Sneakernomics: U.S. Team Sports Equipment Q3 Recap

After what was a solid first half of 2018 for the U.S. team sports equipment market, sales slowed in the third quarter. Matt Powell recaps how sales fared for baseball, golf, soccer, and other sports equipment products in Q3.

Sneakernomics: Holiday 2018 Predictions for Sports Retail

Matt Powell outlines his holiday season expectations for the U.S. athletic footwear and activewear markets, including where there will be challenges as well as bright spots.

Sneakernomics: Athletic Footwear and Activewear Q3 Results

Matt Powell recaps how key categories and brands in the athletic footwear and activewear markets performed during the third quarter of 2018, and what this may foreshadow for the holiday season.

Sneakernomics: Purpose-Driven Brands

Consumers want to know what a brand stands for and what motivates its decisions. Consumers want brands to align with their values. Matt Powell explains how the sports industry is winning here, through companies including Carhartt, Patagonia, Merrell, and VF Corporation.

Sneakernomics: Sports and Sustainability

Millennial and Gen Z consumers want to know where their brands and retailers stand on important social and environmental issues, and are willing to take their business elsewhere if those positions don’t align with their own. Matt Powell explains how the outdoor and athletic markets are winning here, and where there’s opportunity.

Sneakernomics: Back to School 2018 at the Halfway Point

NPD’s sports industry expert Matt Powell recaps the athletic footwear trends he is seeing take shape this back-to-school season.

Sneakernomics: Q2 Team Sports Equipment Recap

Golf equipment sales performed well, and soccer improved due to World Cup interest. Matt Powell recaps what helped and what offset U.S. team sports equipment sales in Q2.

Sneakernomics: Celebrity Endorsements and Sports Retail

LeBron James is taking his talents to LA, and Roger Federer signed a significant deal with retailer Uniqlo. What impact do endorsements have on sports apparel and footwear sales? Matt Powell offers his perspective.

Sneakernomics: Team Sports Equipment Recap

It has so far been a solid year for the U.S. team sports equipment market, helped by the new youth baseball bat regulations and golf equipment sales.

Sneakernomics: The State of the U.S. Activewear Market

Activewear sales from February through April 2018 were essentially flat, as the proliferation of fashion brands emulating performance wear continues to take its toll, says NPD’s Matt Powell.

Sneakernomics: The State of the U.S. Athletic Footwear Market

Athletic footwear sales from February through April 2018 grew in the low single-digits. Matt Powell recaps how key categories and brands performed during these months.

Sneakernomics: Legalized Gambling and Sports Retail

The recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which allows states to regulate gambling on sports will have an impact on the sports retail business, Matt Powell explains.

Sneakernomics: Social Responsibility in Sports Retail

In his latest blog, NPD Group’s Matt Powell discusses the consumer behavior of Gen Z, the emphasis they place on social responsibility and why brands and retailers must pay attention.

Sneakernomics: Managing the Marketplace

One of the most difficult tasks in sports retail is managing the marketplace, especially with hot items. Matt Powell offers ways brands can do this effectively to achieve steadier growth and higher profits.

Sneakernomics: Are You Experienced?

The retail experience has never been more complicated, or more important. NPD’s Matt Powell explores the critical components that make a great experience, and what sports retailers can do about it.

Sneakernomics: Team Sports Equipment Year in Review

Overall for 2017, U.S. team sports equipment sales declined in the single digits, but below the surface it was a mixed bag, with notable pockets of growth.

Sneakernomics: What the Sports Industry Can Learn from Beauty

In today’s retail landscape, industries cannot live strictly in their silos, but must learn from each other. Beauty is among the fastest-growing. Here are the top trends driving its success today, and what others like the sports industry can learn from it.

Sneakernomics: Sports Retail in the Internet Age, Part 2

In my previous blog, I wrote about the ways in which retailers can revolutionize the in-store environment to survive the internet age.

Sneakernomics: Sports Retail in the Internet Age, Part 1

In 2017, growth in the U.S. athletic footwear and activewear markets meagerly improved.

Sneakernomics: State of the Outdoor Retail Industry

On the heels of the Outdoor Retailer show, Matt Powell outlines the in-store and online performance of the U.S. outdoor industry stepping into 2018, across apparel, footwear and equipment.

Sneakernomics: Solutions for the Sports Retail Industry

In my annual predictions here, I explained why 2018 is positioned to be another mediocre year for the U.S. sports industry, as it is following in the footsteps of the tepid sales growth, heavy promoting, and weak profits of 2017.

Sneakernomics: The Golf Business Remains Challenged

The golf retail market in the U.S. remains challenged, largely impacted by the fact that Millennials are not picking up the game at the rate that Boomers are aging out of it.

Sneakernomics: Sports Retail Predictions for 2018

On the surface, the 2017 results for the U.S. sports industry appear to be below average, but not a disaster.

What the Sports Business Can Learn from the Toy Business

The New York Times published a fascinating article a couple days ago on WowWee Brand’s Fingerling toy, one of the hottest toys of the holiday season.

Sneakernomics: Retail Should be Omnipresent, not Omnichannel

I’ve never liked the term “omnichannel” to describe the new sports retail environment. To me, this is looking at the business from an old school, logistics-driven point of view.

Sneakernomics: “Surprise and Delight”

The U.S. sports industry is in a downward spiral, and price is the primary driver. Retail must return to the days of inspirational and aspirational products that surprise and delight consumers.

Sneakernomics: Black Friday 2017

As expected, Black Friday 2017 was marked by broader and deeper discounts than last year. Promotions started earlier than last year as well. Most Black Friday deals were available before Thanksgiving.

Sneakernomics: The Private Brand Defense

This is turning out to be the most promotional year in U.S. sports retail that I have ever seen.

Sneakernomics: Third Quarter Sales Results for U.S. Athletic Footwear and Apparel

After an unseasonably warm and very promotional September, the U.S. athletic footwear market eked out a gain in the third quarter of 2017, with dollar sales up 2 percent.

Sneakernomics: Holiday 2017 Outlook for the Sports Industry

Pun intended, the holiday season is “the most wonderful time of the year” for all the major industries it touches yet, at some point in time, chances are each will be struck by a double-edged sword scenario.

Sneakernomics: The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs

In one of Aesop’s Fables, “The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs,” a farmer owns a goose that lays a golden egg every day.

Sneakernomics: What Sports Retail Can Learn from Fast Fashion

Given this current malaise in the U.S. sports business, it is important for the industry to look across the retail landscape for ideas on how to improve its current condition.

Sneakernomics: Small is the New Big

In a recent blog post, The Future Looks PUNY, I outlined that many of the success stories amidst today’s retail malaise have centered on the ideas of Premium, Unique, New and Young (PUNY).

Sneakernomics: What the Nike Amazon Deal really means for the Sports Industry

A lot has been written about the “pilot program” that Nike agreed to sell direct to Amazon, much of it filled with misconceptions and errors. Let’s try to set the record straight.

Sneakernomics: No, Athleisure is not Dead

With the disappointing quarterly results from some of the major sports retailers, there has been a renewed cry that the athleisure trend is over.

Sneakernomics: Second Quarter Performance for the U.S. Athletic Footwear and Activewear Markets

The calendar was kinder to the second quarter than the first, but challenges still remain in the athletic footwear and activewear space.

Sneakernomics: Second Quarter Performance for the U.S. Athletic Footwear and Activewear Markets

The calendar was kinder to the second quarter than the first, but challenges still remain in the athletic footwear and activewear space.

Sneakernomics: The State of the Outdoor Business

The overall state of the U.S. outdoor business has not been very good. According to data from NPD’s Retail Tracking Service, dollar sales are down year-to-date through May 2017 compared to the same period one year ago, across the men’s, women’s, and kids’ markets.

Sneakernomics: The Future Looks PUNY!

There has certainly been a lot of bad news for the U.S. sports industry recently. We cited the dramatic slowdown in the sneaker purchases by Hispanics, as well as a pessimistic prediction for back-to-school.

Sneakernomics: Athletic Footwear and Activewear Back-to-School 2017 Predictions

I am more pessimistic today than I was in December about the short-term prospects for the U.S. athletic footwear and apparel markets.

Sneakernomics: Hispanics’ Sneaker Slowdown

U.S. athletic footwear sales have been a puzzle this spring. While I accurately predicted the weakness due to the late income tax refunds and late Easter, the expected bounce-back simply did not happen.

Sneakernomics: Fall Sports Recap

Earlier this month, I wrote about the slow start to the spring sports season.

Sneakernomics: Spring Sports Have Not Yet Sprung

Unconventional springtime weather that’s more akin to the late fall season is having a dampening effect on U.S. team sports equipment sales.

Sneakernomics: Golf Sales in Decline

As I wrote about here, the macro environment for golf is pretty unpleasant. Courses are closing, brands are shuttering, retailers are going out of business, and young people are not adopting the game.

Sneakernomics: The U.S. Team Sports Equipment Marketplace

This week, NPD reached another important milestone with the launch of its team sports equipment tracking service.

Sneakernomics: Here Comes Gen Z, Part 2

In a recent blog I highlighted some of the major differences between Millennials and Generation Z. I get a lot of questions on how to understand the profile and values of Gen Z, and for brands and retailers it’s certainly necessary to understand this important next generation.

Sneakernomics: Why Q1 Did Not Bode Well for U.S. Athletic Footwear Sales

Contrary to the positive overall results we saw in the first quarter of 2015 and 2016, Q1 was a mixed bag that left the total U.S. athletic footwear market down 3 percent for the first three months of 2017.

Sneakernomics: Here Comes Gen Z, Part 1

I’ve written a lot about Millennials, but there is another cohort, Generation Z, that’s just as large in both scope and influence.

Sneakernomics: Marketing with Millennials, Part 2

How can brands and retailers better resonate with Millennials, who hold tremendous influence now and in the future?

Sneakernomics: Marketing with Millennials, Part 1

Sneakernomics: Marketing with Millennials, Part 1

Sneakernomics: How Golf Lost the Millennials

Mark King, former President of Taylor Made/Adidas Golf cited the lack of "minorities playing, women coming into the game" as reasons for golf's decline.

Sneakernomics: Tax Refund Delays Can Hurt the Sports Business

Sneakernomics: Tax Refund Delays Can Hurt the Sports Business

Sneakernomics: Sports is Catching the Disease that’s Killing Retail

Sneakernomics: Are Sneakerheads Important?

Sneakernomics: Hispanics and the Sports Business

Sneakernomics: The State of the Outdoor Industry

Sneakernomics: On the Contrary, Innovation is Abundant in the Sneaker World

Sneakernomics: Predictions for the Sports Business in 2017

It’s the end of another fascinating year for the U.S. sports business, so that means predictions time!

Sneakernomics: The Sales Void Created by The Sports Authority

Sneakernomics: NYC Adidas Store Raises the Bar for Sneaker Retail

Adidas has opened its largest store in the world on Fifth Avenue in New Your City and it is amazing.

Sneakernomics: It’s All About Retro

The hottest trend in the U.S. athletic shoe market right now is classic, or retro, footwear. The overall classics category is growing at a +29 percent pace for 2016 so far through October, according to retail sales data from The NPD Group – five percentage points greater than this time in 2015 and currently the strongest player in the athletic footwear market. While retro basketball shoes have been hot for more than a decade, retro running and retro tennis are now growing quickly as well.

Sneakernomics: Holiday Predictions for the Sports Industry 2016

Last holiday season was a particularly strong one for many major aspects of the sports business. There are several factors making this year’s challenging for the industry, but while this year won’t top last, I still expect a fair holiday performance for the world of sports retail.

Sneakernomics: The State of the Athletic Footwear and Apparel Businesses Heading into Holiday

U.S. athletic footwear results in Q3 were softer than they were in the first two quarters of the year, with dollar sales growing by only 2 percent for the quarter, compared to the mid-single digits for the first two quarters.

Sneakernomics: Fast is the New Normal

Everything seems faster today. Change is happening more quickly than ever, and nowhere is this need for speed more evident than in the sports industry.

Sneakernomics: The Election’s Potential Impact on Footwear Sales

Donald Trump shocked the world on Tuesday night with his presidential win. His victory could have deep implications for the sports industry, and the footwear market in particular.

Sneakernomics: Cubs Win! Who Else Does?

Now that the Chicago Cubs’ 108-year winless drought has ended and the curse of the Billy Goat named Murphy has been extinguished, let’s see who the sports winners (besides the Chicago Cubs) are.

Sneakernomics: Is Activewear Being Stretched Too Thin?

Sneakernomics: Is Activewear Being Stretched Too Thin?

What Q2 Sales Results Mean to the Athletic Footwear Industry

What Q2 Sales Results Mean to the Athletic Footwear Industry

Sneakernomics: What Kevin Durant to the Warriors Really Means for the Sneaker Business

Sneakernomics: What Kevin Durant to the Warriors Really Means for the Sneaker Business

What’s Really Happening In The U.S. Sneaker Business

Ads On NBA Jerseys Coming Soon

What’s Going On With Golf?

What’s Going On With Golf?

Winning Women Over Through Sports Marketing

Winning Women Over Through Sports Marketing

Let The Madness Begin

Let The Madness Begin

A Fresh Spin On Fitness

A Fresh Spin On Fitness

Black Friday 2015 In The Sports Business