When is Enough, Enough?

The number of available models is going up, ski shops are struggling to make ends meet, and not just because of the economy. Hardgoods and softgoods prices, as well as the cost of lift tickets, continue to climb. This begs the question of whether of not the ski industry is in a downward spiral, following the same path as the windsurfing industry not too long ago.

Karen Marriott, president of the Florida-based US Windsurfing Association, says the windsurfing industry focused too much on high-end consumers, which priced recreational enthusiasts out of the sport.

And Marriott, who recently ran her family’s ski shop in Wheat Ridge, Colo., thinks it’s happening in the ski industry.

Much as windsurfing manufacturers did, ski makers often primarily market gear for hardcore skiers, which can push costs too high for recreational skiers who can be confused or discouraged by too many technical features and jargon. (Ski technology and marketing also play a role in increasing costs.) 

- SkiingBusiness.com

Some companies in the windsurfing industry, in an attempt to save itself from dying all together, adopted a two year production life cycle to reduce the number of products that companies were putting out compared to the amount that were actually being sold. The attempt to focus on the recreational wind surfer seems to be too little, too late, and the industry is still now trying to get back on its feet.

The skiing industry is doing much the same thing that got the windsurfing in its current situation.

Geoff Curtis, Marker-Völkl USA’s marketing vice president, says technologies typically don’t change drastically year-to-year, but colors and graphics do. Völkl, for instance, often keeps a line of skis, like its Unlimited series, available for a few years, while changing graphics and colors.

Updating aesthetics, Curtis says, helps the consumer know whether the ski is a current or past model-something skiers expect. And with ever-changing trends, a graphic and color can often determine a ski’s success in the market. Even for established models, new graphics tend to indicate that the model has been upgraded, which is better received by consumers than no change at all.

As for changing ski model names, Curtis says there’s an interesting dichotomy there. Some ski names, such as Völkl’s Mantra, enjoy a strong reputation, so it would be detrimental for a company to change it. Others don’t have that status, so there is less risk involved.

- SkiingBusiness.com

It seems that the skiing industry does something similar to what the windsurfing industry has with its two year production cycle, but the skiing companies simply change graphics to make the products appear to have been upgraded from year-to-year. Many skiers, myself included, have caught on to this trend and buy models from previous years when it comes time to upgrade our personal equipment.

Another suggestion to retain skiers and attract new ones made by Ken Jacques, co-owner of Ski Depot in Jay, Maine says, “We need to stop promoting ourselves to ourselves, we [skiers] already know it's fun."


What Jacques is suggesting here is that companies in the ski industry need to focus their marketing spending on kids and people who have just started skiing. Advertising to someone who has been skiing for 20+ years is pretty pointless. By that point most people have certain brands that they like, know what they are looking for in a ski/boot/binding, and will not be swayed to change their mind based on advertising. If the money spent on promoting skiing to the already hardcore skier was instead used to promote to children or people who are just starting the sport, companies could get much more out of their advertising than they currently are.