sportFACHHANDEL 03_2017 Leseprobe

16 | WINTER | Touring Ski 03.2017
Dynamic market:
Ski mountaineering
equipment is
increasingly popular.
TOURING SKIS
“ Retailers
should be flexible“
Mostly, the market of ski mountaineering equipment gathers momentum later in the year than the alpine
skiing market. This year again, the snowy January has had a favourable impact on the revenues. Benedikt
Böhm, CEO of Dynafit, promotes the opinion that the season for winter products starts later with the sale.
This would open up additional profitable opportunities.
Interview: Andreas Mayer
The “real”
winter season
starts later in the
year.«
Benedikt Böhm, CEO Dynafit
sportFACHHANDEL: Mr. Böhm, how is the touring
ski market currently developing?
Benedikt Böhm: We are satisfied with the current
development in this year – the snowy January has
boosted the winter sales and has generated slight
growth in the touring ski segment. It is obvious
that the market is in motion. It is stimulated by
new products, new providers and new retailers.
The most recent evaluation says that there are
about 500.000 ski touring fans in Germany alone.
However, the trade faces the challenge that the
“real” winter season starts later in the year. From
our point of view, this opens up new opportunities
as well, since ski mountaineers and endurance
alpinists train all year round and producers as well
as retailers are required to adapt themselves to it.
What actions do the producers of ski touring equipment
take to meet this challenge? We try to mitigate
the problem of the early sale of the products by
an extension of the product lifecycle. Above that,
we promote that the winter season should begin
later and we think that retailers are supposed to
get accustomed to the fact that the business with
the niche of touring skis and equipment will start
in January and that they should be flexible in this
respect. We responded to this development and the
demands of our sporty target group already five
years ago and positioned ourselves as all-season
brand providing equipment for 365 days. We
consider our customers as touring skiers, trail
runners, mountain hikers and endurance
mountaineers in general. With our vast summer
collection and a new winter running line, we equip
this target group from head to toe for all altitudes,
disciplines, training units and competitions.
Which highlight is Dynafit presenting at the ISPO?
For the first time, we present the “Speedfit” line
for winter 17/18, made for on-piste touring.The
product set-up, consisting of ski, shoe, binding,
helmet with lamp as well as fashion, is developed
for the slope in particular, including the use in
the night. With Dynafit Speedfit, we meet the
challenge of the later-beginning winters. We are
athletes ourselves and recognise high growth rates
of on-piste ski touring. Above that, we are presenting
a brand new fleet of 13 ski models for the
touring categories Race, Speed, Tour and Free at
the ISPO.