Fitness business and sales falls slightly, but participation remains steady

Are you in the fitness business or belong to a sporting goods manufacturer company? The good news is the current economy may not be affecting you nearly as much as it is affecting those in other industries. The fitness business industry is slightly immune to the economy. It turns out that, even though money is getting tighter, people are still very concerned about their health.

According to a report by the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA),   shipments by sporting goods manufacturers fell by almost 4%, the first decline since 2003 and the biggest decline in quite a couple of decades. On the other hand, there are more people than ever are participating in sports and other fitness activities. People continue to join fitness business and health club centers to get the exercise they need.

The main difference is people are trying to make due with what they have. (Slap me upside the head for pointing out the obvious). Participation remains steady, yet sales are decreasing for reasons due to the economy.

It’s quite possible fitness businesses and sporting goods manufacturers will be able to ride the bad economy wave out without making too many changes. Some are actually still growing. The athletic shoe industry is still seeing strong sales. Sci-Fit, a fitness machine manufacturer in Tulsa is still seeing growth. In fact, their Chief Executive Larry Born stated he plans on taking full advantage of the growth Sci-Fit is experiencing just in case harder time fall.

Fitness businesses, other than cutting some spending and possibly laying off a few workers, are coping quite well with the economy. Same goes for sporting goods manufacturers. Marketers, take note of this! People are still willing to buy fitness products, albeit not as often as they used to.

Tyler Cash is the author of this blog. He is a freelance marketing copywriter for the fitness, athletic, and sport supplements industry. If you would like to find out more about him visit www.fitnesssupplementcopywriting.com.

Be glad the phthalates ban doesn’t apply to sporting goods

I’ve been following the proposed phthalates ban on children’s toys. Under the ban, companies would have to remove the potentially harmful phthalates from all toys marketed and sold to children. Sporting goods were going to be included in this ban.

Phthalates are linked to certain cancers, hormone imbalances, and the underdevelopment of the adolescent reproductive system, hence the call to ban the additive from children’s toys.

Under this ban, products containing phthalates could not be sold after Feb 10, 2009. For a while, sporting goods were going to be included in this phthalates ban even though they are not considered children’s toys. Fortunately, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, along with other advocates for the sporting goods industry, came to the rescue. They convinced the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to exclude sporting goods from the phthalates ban, arguing sporting goods are not considered children’s toys. The CPSC agreed, and now, even products marketed to the pee wee leagues are not subject to the phthalates ban.

The children’s toys manufacturers have my sympathies. In this economically tough time, manufacturers must reformulate their toy recipes and get them tested. Retailers are forced to pull all products that contain phthalates. And since this ban was put into hasty action, both manufacturers and retailers are scrambling to rework their formulas, budgets, and marketing strategies. Its wreaking havoc in an already tough time.

Let’s be glad the sporting goods and fitness industry was spared. What would a phthalates ban have done to the sporting goods industry? Hmm…Lets think. Phthalates are found in many of the plastic products we purchase. How many sporting goods and fitness items are made from or contain plastic? Too many to count. All these phthalate containing items would have to go. It would be devastating, just like it is for the toy industry.

Many sectors of the sporting goods, athletic, and fitness industry are already suffering huge decreases in revenue. Being forced to reformulate the products containing phthalates would knock even more businesses, not that a ton of them haven’t already filed for bankruptcy.

Even if a company survived, budgets and staff would be slashed across the board. Aren’t marketing budgets already as shoestring as they can get? Apparently not. I hear of companies slashing their marketing budget nearly every day. And, as you already know, when marketing can’t get the word out about products, sales aren’t made. When sales aren’t made, revenue doesn’t come in. When revenue doesn’t come in…you get the picture.

A phthalates ban on sporting goods would have been murder to the industry. Many manufacturers rely on phthalates for their products. While I agree phthalates should be banned, companies need to be given more time to prepare than the toy manufacturers and retailers were given.

Now that the sporting goods industry knows what could lie ahead, they have time to prepare. Those in charge of product production need to get the ball rolling! They need to get rid of phthalates, or else. If you’re reading this and are a marketer for a sporting goods company, it could be your budget, possibly your job, that gets slashed if nothing is done…

Fitness in tough economic times

I was reading an interview the publication Brandweek had with Steve Battista, svp-brand of Under Armour. They were discussing the recent entry of the Under Armour brand into the running shoe market. The running shoe market, a market filled with big names like Nike, New Balance, and Mizuno, is already chocked full of high quality shoes with the latest in running technology. I myself am a runner who has tried many different shoes and see no need for another major brand to enter the running shoe market.

However, the entrance of yet another major shoe company in the running shoe market is not what caught my eye. While reading, Steve Battista said there was lots of evidence that the number of people involved in running increased during difficult economies. He claimed to not buy into it, but I beg to differ.

Think about it.  In a tough economy, people tend to have more time on their hands. Many have either lost their jobs or have had the number of hours they work each week cut back.  That means less time at the office and more free time. When we’re going through a tough economy, everybody stresses, whether they’ve lost their job, are in danger of losing their job, or are secure.  Everyone gets stressed. What happens to be one of the best stress beaters known to man? Exercise! Fitness! Running! More free time means more time to kill. A tough economy means more stress to beat.

In my view, people have two major options to beat stress. One is to settle down in front of the TV with a big box of chocolates and watch reruns of the Beverly Hillbillies, or they can get out and exercise.  Exercise is cheap, particularly if you take up running, it kills time, and it makes you feel good afterward. That box of chocolates will make you feel worse than you did when you started!

So maybe the sporting goods industry isn’t so bad off. Sure, sales are down and layoffs are happening at the big sporting goods manufacturers and retailers, but people can turn to exercise to relieve stress.

At least this means there will still be a demand for sporting goods while the economy goes through its worst. That demand may be down, but it will still be there.

I guess the demand for chocolate will still be there, too.

Just my two cents on fitness in tough economic times and the sporting goods industry.

What an economy for the sporting goods industry

Hmmm….What an economy to start blogging on the fitness, sport supplements, and sporting goods industry!  I’m subscribed to more newsletters on the industry than I can count, and every single issue is chocked full of bad news.  One fitness company files for bankruptcy, a sporting goods manufacturer reports a 25% decrease in profits, and poor outlooks for the industry in general plague every issue.  Let’s take a look at some of the grim news…

Nautilus corporation, the makers of the world reknowned Bowflex machine, has had a 25% decrease in profits from one year ago.  They’ve cut 15% of their workforce in that time frame.

Smaller companies and corporations, like Herman’s Sporting Goods, who operates 117 stores, are falling like flies.  They’re declaring bankrupcty and are either reorganizing or are being bought up by companies who are not suffering quite as badly.

Just about every company in the fitness, sport supplements, and sporting goods industries had a lackluster holiday season.  LL Bean, although operating debt-free, will likely have to layoff workers thanks to a poor Christmas season.

Even the news about the average American’s health is grim!  One newsletter I received contained an article stating for the first time ever, the number of obese Americans out numbers the amount of overweight Americans!

To top it all off, my issue of the Sports Executive Weekly made yet another grim prediction.  It stated that the current economy will make people change their spending habits for years to come.  The sport supplements, fitness, and sporting goods industry could very well see long term effects even after the economy recovers.

But not all’s bad news.  Companies keep on going.  Mizuno USA opened a new distribution center.  Companies continue to roll out new products.  Despite all the doom and gloom, the sporting goods industry keeps its wheels rolling and takes the blows as they come.   Companies are adapting to the changes, and when the economy finally recovers, good news will become much more common.

Please feel free to follow the Fitness and Sport Supplement Marketer blog as I follow the controversial issues that face this industry, from the use of drag reducing suits in high school swimming competition to the economy as a whole.  I’ll also throw in posts on marketing tips marketing professionals in the fitness, sport supplements, and sporting good industry can use.