09 Sep August 2013 Athletic Footwear Overview
by Matt Powell of sportsonesource.com
Sales of Sport Footwear for the month of August 2013 increased in the mid-single digits in dollars and were flat in units, resulting in a mid-single digit increase in average selling price
For the period, the top selling model was Nike Flex at $67. Flex is the down market interpretation of Free and knocked Free from the top spot. Nike Free is by no means over. Free sales are still growing nicely, up 20% for August. Free and Flex helped Nike gain a low teens increase for the period
The Jordan 5 Fire Red (Black Tongue) release the last week was a strong one, helping Jordan achieve a +20% increase for the period.
Adidas Springblade came in #44 of the top selling models for the period. Even though sales slowed week over week during the period, Springblade helped Adidas reverse a negative trend in running.
Overall running had its best month in a long while up in the low teens.
The four weeks of August are the most important of the year for Cleated footwear. Cleated sales were up in the high singles for the month. UA was a big gainer in Cleated, up more than half. Their share hit 20%. I estimate they sold 100,000 pair of the Highlight cleat at $130.
Highlights
· Sales of Sport Footwear for the month of August 2013 increased in the mid-single digits in dollars and were flat in units, resulting in a mid-single digit increase in average selling price
· For the period, the top selling model was Nike Flex at $67. Flex is the down market interpretation of Free and knocked Free from the top spot.
· Nike Free is by no means over. Free sales are still growing nicely, up 20% for August
· Free and Flex helped Nike gain a low teens increase for the period
· The Jordan 5 Fire Red (Black Tongue) release the last week was a strong one, helping Jordan achieve a +20% increase for the period.
· Adidas Springblade came in #44 of the top selling models for the period. Even though sales slowed week over week during the period, Springblade helped Adidas reverse a negative trend in running.
· Overall running had its best month in a long while up in the low teens.
· The four weeks of August are the most important of the year for Cleated footwear. Cleated sales were up in the high singles for the month.
· UA was a big gainer in Cleated, up more than half. Their share hit 20%. I estimate they sold 100,000 pair of the Highlight cleat at $130.
August Footwear by Channel
· Sales on the internet gained in the mid-teens and represented 9% of all dollars sold. The increased contribution of retro Basketball releases drove Basketball sales to physical stores.
· Athletic Specialty/Full Line Sporting goods grew in the mid singles. A strong basketball month helped returns here.
· Family Channel Sport Footwear experienced a small decline on the calendar shift. Family is showing strength in running
· Run specialty grew in the low teens
August Footwear Brand Share
· Under Armour had the largest percentage gain for the month, up more than a third on a small base. Under Armour moved up 3 spots to #6 share overall, as August is the largest month of the year for Cleated footwear, where UA has its largest share. Under Armour also had a strong month in Basketball, with sales up double, on a 0.23% share. UA also had a solid 20% increase in Running.
· The next largest increase came from Jordan, which got its mojo back after a tough Q2. Q2 is historically weak for basketball. Jordan sales for the month grew more than 20% as share grew 170 basis points to 13.2%. Jordan share in basketball is 62.8%.
· The core running brands cooled off after a strong first half. Back to school is historically not a great time for technical running. Brooks grew in the mid-teens, Asics in the high singles, Mizuno in the mid singles and Saucony had a small decline.
· The soft patch for Adidas continued. As Running has turned around, now Casual (Adidas’ largest category) has gone soft. Overall Adidas had a slight decline. Reebok trend, while still negative, improved to -25%. Reebok Training was about flat for the month, as their efforts in training have started to pay off. Reebok basketball had a small increase on strong retro liquidations
· Skechers hot trend cooled for August as family budgets were spent on shoes for the kids and not for Mom. We can expect Skechers to take off again in mid-September.
· Converse and Vans both slowed from previous trend. K-Swiss sales continued to improve as sales were slightly negative.