Sporting Goods Manufacturers Up the Ante on Merchandising

Sporting goods manufacturers are paying increased attention to the point-of-sale. That's the news from the 1996 Super Show, a swarming caucus of sporting goods buyers and sellers held every February in Atlanta."Seventy percent of our marketing budget in 1996 will go into P-O-P, racks and fixtures," says Chuck Toal, director of sales at Wigwam Mills Inc., Sheboygan, Wis. The knitwear maker introduced four different wood displays and bins this year, as well as a molded-styrene bin and a series of wall and floor racks with informative header cards. "Everything we do internally doesn't count until the customer takes it off the rack," Toal says.That recognition has been slow to build and remains far from universal throughout the industry. Nevertheless, a tour of the show indicates that athletic equipment manufacturers are steadily waking to the necessity and validity of merchandising.In 1990, U.S. manufacturers spent the equivalent of 6.8 percent of domestic sales on marketing, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, sponsors of the Super Show. Four years later, that figure rose to 9.7 percent or approximately $3.6 billion.When the same 1994 SGMA study ranked industry marketing expenditures, point-of-sale displays came in seventh out of 10 possible categories.Change Comes Slowly"It's changing, but not rapidly," explains Michael Cisler, vice president of marketing for backpack-maker Jansport, Appleton, Wis. His company is a perfect example. While P-O-P accounts for less than 10 percent of Jansport's marketing budget, four years ago it was almost nothing. The company is putting more time and money into P-O-P in the form of displays, fixtures, hangtags and overall visual merchandising. "Retailers demand it," he says, but more importantly, "we recognize that it's a valuable selling aid in the store. When we do better displays, it shows up in sell through."Cisler says Jansport plans to "make in-store merchandising something more on the order of 20 percent of budget, but it will take a couple of years to get to that neighborhood."Footwear and apparel maker Nike was one of the first companies in the industry to recognize the need for P-O-P. These days the company's approach has shifted from seasonal releases to product-specific point-of-purchase materials. "Products nowadays have such a short lifespan," says Lisa DeNatale, retail marketing manager for the Beaverton, Ore.-based company. "To make P-O-P that will last three to six months maximum is not very efficient."Nike's P-O-P budget has grown 20 percent in the last 12 months, she says. "We recognize the importance of having the right presentation at the point-of-sale." By her own admission, Nike is in a unique position. "Most of our retailers will take anything we give them and they'll find a spot for it."Marketers at the National Basketball Association also find retailers eager to adorn their stores with P-O-P. The association's national image campaign, "I Love This Stuff," returns this year with only minor modifications. About 30 percent to 40 percent of the department stores, fan shops, hobby shops, mass merchants and sporting goods dealers that stock NBA-licensed products also buy into the league's P-O-P. "We have something for every product category," notes Scott Dickey, director and group manager of marketing programs for NBA Properties, New York. "Smaller chains tend to take more P-O-P because they have fewer restrictions on them."NBA materials include an acrylic counter card measuring 5 inches square, a die-cut hanging sign and rack topper, a cap mobile, size dividers for apparel and team-specific posters. The materials were designed in-house. Cornerstone Products, Norcross, Va., serves as both the supplier and fulfillment house. With the notable exception of major department stores such as Nordstrom, retailers appear to be increasingly amenable to vendor-supplied P-O-P.Giant inflatables and celebrity standees aside, manufacturers say they are providing smaller, more flexible, functional displays that maximize space instead of merely consuming it.Kevin Tordoff, field marketing manager for Saucony, a division of Hyde Athletic Industries Inc., Peabody, Mass., notes that just a few years ago, Saucony almost ignored point-of-purchase opportunities."Retailers came to us," Tordoff explains, "asking us to get involved." Today, he says, not only does the shoemaker create a handful of display items annually, but there is "synergy between pieces."In February, Saucony began shipping 2,500 vacuum-formed styrene shoe shelves in the shape of the Saucony wave logo. What at first was perceived to be a problem -- shoes threatened to fall off the unevenly shaped shelf -- turned out to be a positive. To stabilize the shoes, a small support was built into the shelf. The new angle makes the brand's running shoes look as if they're about to burst off a starting block.The same molded-wave shelf concept was employed in a two-sided freestanding unit, 500 of which were ordered from Display World, Fall River, Mass. Due for release this month, the unit features a laminated wood base and holds 10 shoes. Tordoff says the unit will "be used everywhere from smaller tech shops to sneaker stadiums."Wide World of SportsSporting goods cover a range of categories, including footwear, fitness, outdoors (camping, hunting, exploring), team (soccer, baseball, basketball), individual sports (swimming, golf, tennis) and licensed products (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL).Almost without exception, what these categories share is a belief that the product they market is uniquely hard to merchandise. Unboxed equipment like fishing waders and baseball gloves are often awkward and unwieldy in shape. Accessories from shoes to tents can be highly technical in concept and construction.Christopher Cunningham, vice president of marketing at Mitre Sports, believes P-O-P exists to educate the consumer. "What separates a $90 ball from a $10 ball?" he asks. The right P-O-P makes the difference clear to shoppers. The company is currently using a four-color poster to categorize and clarify its line of soccer balls, and hopes to introduce more P-O-P later. Cunningham says his five-year vision is to have hangtags with "a couple of quick, snappy, descriptive sentences" attached to every product produced by the Nashville-based soccer equipment company.Outdoor product marketer Nelson/Weather-Rite, Lenexa, Kan., encompasses six brand names and more than two dozen categories from camping equipment to apparel. At the same time, Marketing Manager Dean Cost has virtually no budget for P-O-P. "It's definitely a challenge," he says. "The shoe industry has higher margins. We've got a lot less to work with. We've got to be able to cover the cost of a display the first time around."For Cost, P-O-P is a conundrum: To make a display truly spectacular, he says, is almost price prohibitive. On the other hand, if it's affordable and unobtrusive enough to fit into every environment, he says, "it's dull." A Nelson/Weather-Rite tent center display once won a major marketing award, he notes, but "bombed in the real world."Fitting in, both aesthetically and dimensionally, is often a problem. In addition to the breadth and depth of products in the sporting goods category, the variety of retail environments strongly influences P-O-P design. Athletic goods are marketed through a range of outlets -- mass merchants, discounters, regional chains, independent stores, national superstores, department stores and specialty sports stores -- each possessing vastly different spaces and images.Shoemaker K-Swiss, Chatsworth, Calif., answers the store environment challenge with simplicity. A modular slatwall display for Spring 1996, designed by JDC Concepts, Chicago, features no lifestyle or sport graphics, no bells or whistles, just the K-Swiss logo shield on black acrylic. Five hundred units were ordered at a cost of $35 each. "We anticipate we'll run out soon and have to reorder," says Ramin Ramhormozi, category manager at K-Swiss. "We want to keep inventories down."The unit was designed and built to last a long time -- as long as the retailer will use it. "Our challenge to the P-O-P companies was 'make it streamlined,'" Ramhormozi says, so that multiple units can be combined. "If you put up one shoe, it becomes an orphan on the wall."Environment and RealitySports enthusiasts are often pictured as more environmentally aware and health conscious than the average consumer. And that image presents another concern for P-O-P designers: what materials to use. The conflict between permanent vs. temporary P-O-P rages on in the sporting goods industry. While temporary units are typically recyclable, sports enthusiasts suspect that few marketers actually follow through. "Hangtags are negative," according to Steve Gladstone, marketing communications manager for Merrell Footwear, a division of Karhu U.S.A., Burlington, Vt. "There's a perception [among Merrell's ecology-minded consumers] that hangtags are wasteful."Merrell's solution is to use reclaimed wood whenever possible. Pioneer Millworks, Shortsville, N.Y., recently completed a Fall 1996 shoe shelf for Merrell using wood from a 100-year-old building and recycled steel. But even Merrell won't sacrifice looks for environmentalism. The company will also come out with a 10-shoe floor unit made of painted masonite shelves in an ash frame this spring. Canvas banners separate the sides and the unit is topped with a copper header."We couldn't get the look and colors we wanted out of reclaimed materials," says Kim Callahan, marketing and in-store display manager, who ordered 1,000 of the displays from Modern Display, Salt Lake City.Another outdoor company, Jansport, favors corrugated units as a "quick way of providing additional retail space for a short period of time," says Janet Rothe, retail communications manager. The company recently ordered a "couple thousand" recyclable daypack displays from PAC Services, Seattle, for Back-to-School 1996.Measuring 37 inches wide by 73 inches high by 22 inches deep, the display presents six faces topped by a photo header and the Jansport logo printed on the otherwise unadorned sides. Retailers can buy the unit at a cost of 65 cents per backpack or $45 if not ordering the product.In May, Jansport will unveil a 3-D representation of a print ad for its new Rubber Bottom backpack. The clear, vacuum-formed unit, designed to look like an ice cave, glorifies one backpack and the Jansport name. Five hundred units will be produced by Chicago Show, Morton Grove, Ill.As further evidence that P-O-P is taking hold in sporting goods, shoe accessory maker Second Wind, Paso Robles, Calif., has hired its first vice president of marketing. Bob Applegate's enthusiasm for P-O-P calls to mind a boy building model planes. Applegate admits he had fun helping design a countertop demonstrator for Second Wind's waterproofing products, which rolls out this month. The unit has a reservoir carved into wood and finished in granite-looking Zolotone, a water bottle and a no-name child's shoe. Two slips of paper, one treated with Second Wind waterproofer and the other not, float in the water. The display was created by Phil Peterson Co., San Luis Obispo, Calif.At the Super Show, Second Wind also unveiled its first interactive floorstand. The 5-foot-tall, four-sided unit holds a complete line of Second Wind products and features several value-added components. On one side, full-size graphics allow consumers to measure their laces and find the right replacement lace product. A shoe mirror turns the lower edge of another side into an integral part of the shoe department. On top, a plexiglass box protects the retailer's choice of shoe and product display. An interactive device, supplied by Microtalk, Cincinnati, can be removed and used alone on slatwall."The interactive feature adds $100 to the display," says Second Wind President Gus Blythe, who says it is nevertheless worth the cost to explain the company's divergent products to shoppers. The $350 display will be made to order by Jerry Brewster Enterprises, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Sporting Goods Manufacturers Up the Ante on Merchandising

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