Italian Market Insight

ITALY

Let‘s start with a political and economic update. The elections are behind us and as expected the rightleaning party Fratelli d’ Italia headed up by Mrs. Meloni won the elections and is now the first female Prime Minister in our history. A PM from the far right who is now in charge and there will be some significant changes regarding refugees, rights for homosexuals etc. Also the payment limit in cash has again been raised to 10k, which for a long time was at 3k or even 1k to fight corruption. Let‘s see how the collaboration with the EU will evolve in the future as this will also be crucial for the future growth of our economy. Covid has no effect on our daily life and business anymore but the high energy and living costs mean we remain worried. Spending power is dropping and this makes retailers worried about the near future. Also snow retailers fear less business as a day on the slopes will be way more expensive than last year and could keep people away from the slopes. Deliveries also come in late which gives them less time to sell as different retailers confirm. Also ISPO being so early with no sales data makes forecasting more difficult than usual but retailers understand that it‘s crucial to get deliveries on time. Unfortunately not many core snowboard retailers are left as the business has become very unpredictable and high stock level from previous seasons makes it very hard for a small core shop to remain competitive. Many small core stores now concentrate on a few brands and try to offer a unique selection rather than trying to offer many brands. Hardgoods and outerwear snow business has become very online-driven, as customers get the full selection and often special deals early in the season which led many smaller stores to give up. Skateboarding hardgoods sales are still slow and inventory levels struggle to

reduce. Dropping temperatures right now SWISS PORTUGAL don’t help and Gio from AcriminalG skate SPAIN shop from Arona says: “We still sell quite UK well but the over saturation of the market is FRANCE still a problem.” GERMANY Alex from Action Sport Agency confirms, not only are skate hardgoods suffering from high stock levels but surf wetsuits are also moving slowly and stores have started to discount more than usual. These factors of course have led to conservative Spring / Summer 2023 bookings and the outlook is not very bright. Stores are also not willing to introduce a lot of new brands, they prefer to try and focus on brands that have proven to be safe sellers and where margin is good as the increased costs cut the profit. It’s now crucial that we have a solid Winter season to bring cashflow back. It’s positive that October started well even if the temperatures were higher than in previous years but people were in a good mood and that helped more than low temperatures. The latest shop news is that Blue Tomato are opening and expanding now in Italy with their first store opening in Merano later this year. This is one of the few openings this year as the opening of new businesses in general is quite slow this year because circumstances are not easy. Specializing and selling what you love is now key as customers really appreciate good customer service and concept stores are more and more becoming a hot trend also in Italy. The switch to sustainable products and production is also becoming more popular season after season, but the younger customers in general still tend to buy what’s trending rather than paying attention to sustainability, although the topic is becoming more and more prevalent.

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ISPO MUNICH NOV. 28–30, 2022