We welcome your comments and ideas for articles in future issues. In addition, if there is an issue troubling you, this newsletter is the appropriate vehicle to bring that topic to the attention of your fellow retailers.

Teddy Schiavoni, Summit Ski & Snowboard

NSSRA Chairman of the Board

Larry Weindruch

NSSRA President

In the last newsletter, I gave a pep talk about the value of your business and the relationships you nurture with suppliers and customers. Now I'm writing to encourage you to add your relationship with NSSRA to the priority list and here's why:

 

Over the past several months we have been extra busy getting projects up and running to bring more value and more credibility to the retailer association. We need your participation in these projects to make them relevant across the industry.

 

POS Data: We have been working closely with SportsOneSource since the summer of 2016 to develop an updated platform for gathering retail sales data, bundling it and producing the best marketable POS data the industry has ever made available. It needs come from retailers and we felt that being, "By the Retailers and For the Retailers" was long overdue and so, we did it. The platform is now up and running and being refined to offer information more granular than ever. SIA has lent a hand to the project, as well, to help ensure the numbers weigh in correctly. The more retailers we have involved, the better for our association, for the industry and for your business.

 

If you aren't already involved and reporting, please click here to become connected.

 

ASTM: In case you didn't already know, those binding indemnification lists you reference each season come from us, here at NSSRA. We hold a seat as Membership Secretary of the ASTM F-27 Snow Ski Committee and are involved at the top levels with binding companies as the voice of retailers at the table. With the smorgasbord of boot soles and binding compatibility scenarios we're all encountering lately, know that we're proactive in our efforts to bring some unity to service benches everywhere. We all need to be working as efficiently as possible and the message is being carried on your behalf.

 

Support NSSRA and help us help you.

 

ShipSkis: We've heard many retailers from urban areas telling of lost sales due to the cost of customers not flying to their vacation spot with their own equipment and instead simply renting when they arrive. Together with ShipSkis, we are working to build a relationship network of retailers across the country. The goal is to enable customers to drop their equipment at your shop locally, where you in turn send their gear to your customers' destination. When they're ready to head home the system is reversed and the equipment comes back to the local shop. If it works as it should, the system will A) Encourage customers to purchase rather than rent; B) Get customers into the local shop prior to vacation for equipment and service needs; C) Direct customers to a friendly destination shop for any last-minute gear or services away from home; and D) Generate a revenue stream for all. Again, without your participation this program falls flat.

Click here for more information and to sign up.

 

We're in the early phases of a program working with USSA, SIA and suppliers to drive race business into retailers and help educate better back shop service practice through SIA's Ski Mechanics Workshop program. This is a first, an opportunity for a participating retailer to become better versed in ski racing to provide to the specialty needs of the race community. Details to come.

 

We've also held conversations with PSIA, exploring future partnerships. Retailers are the most stable venue for reaching skiers and riders, meaning, our shops are ideal for encouraging lessons and ultimately keeping people on the slopes. We're discussing how to create better relationships with the instructors and become their go-to resource for their equipment needs. We're very excited to be bringing this project to our retail members and looking forward to more input of how we can make this project benefit your businesses.

 

Upcoming events in May:

 

National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) annual conference in Scottsdale, AZ, May 5-8. This is a great opportunity to sit in on industry specific discussion and presentations along with stakeholders from across the country. It's a great event for networking and sharing ideas for working together with local and regional ski areas, too.

 

National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) annual Management Conference, May 21-24, Scottsdale, AZ. This event is packed with retail experience, conferences and marketing sessions designed to keep retailers at the top of their game. This year, snow sports will participate in an advocacy panel and will attend a panel of marketing executives from Yelp, Locally and Hubba and Kibo. If you have never attended this retailer-centric event, this would be a great year to check it out.

 

The work we are doing benefits all NSSRA members. The association needs your participation to maintain itself and to remain strong and relevant. Without your input and your participation, the retailer's association falls flat. We are always open to listening and we value your opinions to help form our objectives and our strategies. Together, we make a difference. Within NSSRA, no one is independent, we are a strong association of retailers in the coolest industry on the planet, snow sports.

 

I look forward to hearing from you and to see through these and other projects in the future. Until then, Happy Mud Season, and get involved!

Teddy Schiavoni

NSSRA Chairman

Summit Ski & Snowboard, Framingham, MA

The acquisition includes the Armada brand, Armada-branded products, as well as intellectual property and distribution rights. The transaction value is approximately $4.1 million, of which $2.5 million will be settled with cash. Armada will be integrated into the Amer Sports Winter Sports Equipment business unit.

PartnerShip, NSSRA's express and freight shipping partner, has been approved as a SmartWay Transportation Partner! The SmartWay Partnership is an alliance between the freight industry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to improve fuel efficiency, and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution resulting from freight operations. 

 

There are approximately 3,000 SmartWay member businesses (shippers, logistics companies, truck lines), and we join the likes of Schneider, Wal-Mart, Echo, Coyote, Whole Foods, etc. Being recognized as a SmartWay Partner means that we have been environmentally conscious with the carriers with which we are associated and we are committed to working with carriers that are consistently improving their environmental performance to reduce their supply chain carbon footprint.

 

For more information, click here , to read a recent blog post that contains more details.

NSSRA members who participate in the Ship Skis program will be able to ship their customers' gear to and from any  ski resort in the United States or abroad. Retailers will be provided with an easy to complete Ship Skis web page for their websites, which quickly calculates shipping charges. Through Ship Skis, shipping fees are offered at discount rates. This allows NSSRA retailers to earn a margin on their customers shipping charges for facilitating the shipment. Shipments are insured against loss or damage, and Ship Skis will cover up to $200 should the customer have to rent gear for any shipments that are delayed in-transit.

For more information, please contact NSSRA President Larry Weindruch, [email protected], or (888) 257-1168, Ext. 1290.