byLarry Eder
Brooks Sports has shown that, if one focuses on a goal, with a great team, one can shake up an industry. Brooks has focused on specialty running for a decade, and has been rewarded as the top performance footwear brand in specialty running, pushing ASICS America, who had lead the performance running business for the last sixteen years, into the number two position. With brands like ASICS, adidas, Mizuno, New Balance, PUMA, Saucony, pushing the quality of their product and redefining their relationships with their dealers and their consumers, the consumer, in the end, is the winner, with better product and better service.
Brooks Sports’ PureProject Tops Running Shoe Leaderboard Out of the Blocks
Leading Running Brand Finishes Year With Double Digit Growth, Top Honors
From Retail Accounts and Runners
Bothell, Wash. – Jan. 18, 2012 – Brooks Sports, Inc. (www.brooksrunning.com)
crossed the finish line for 2011 leading overall brand market share in
the specialty running channel (SRA) for the twelfth straight month,
according to Leisure Trends Group’s Run Specialty RetailTRAKâ„¢. Brooks’
continued growth in the space was amplified in late 2011 by the October
launch of PureProject, the brand’s collection of lightweight running
shoes. PureProject sales vaulted Brooks to the top spot in October and
November 2011 with 33 percent market share in the minimalist running
shoe category, according to Leisure Trends. This was fueled by sales of
the PureCadence, which became the best-selling minimalist shoe at SRA
for the same two-month period.
Also experiencing significant growth was Brooks’ entire footwear line. In 2011, Brooks’
total U.S. footwear sales rose 39 percent, bolstered in part by three
styles experiencing triple-digit growth: Ghost (up 134 percent), Trance
(up 114 percent) and Ravenna (up 100 percent). Not to be outdone, the
Brooks top seller, the Adrenaline GTS (up 23 percent in the U.S.),
retained its position as the No. 1 shoe at SRA in 2011, also according
to Leisure Trends.
“2011
marked a fantastic year for Brooks as we made great headway toward our
quest to become the next billion-dollar brand in running. We remained
steadfast on providing best-in-class product and service to customers
and found new ways to successfully connect with runners ’round the
globe,” said Jim Weber, president and CEO of Brooks Sports, Inc.
“Making 2011 even more exceptional, we capped off the year with the
global launch of PureProject. From R&D to design to launch, we
approached the lightweight market with a unique point of view that
combined runner insights, proprietary technologies, biomechanics, and
beautiful design. Initial sales numbers and consumer excitement support
that our instincts were right on track.”
Validating
the sales growth seen on the footwear side, Brooks’ Trance 11 and
PureFlow today received awards by worldwide authority on running, Runner’s World.
In the magazine’s Spring Shoe Guide found in the March issue, the
Trance 11 earned the coveted “Editor’s Choice” award and the PureFlow
was announced as a “Best Buy.”
Brooks’ footwear momentum wasn’t the only high point for Brooks in 2011, other business highlights include:
· Brooks increased its 2011 overall brand sales revenue by 34 percent, relative to 2010.
o Domestic revenue jumped 37 percent.
o International business increased more than 26 percent.
· Brooks’ “at-once” fill-in order trends, an indicator of retail sell-through of products, drew a 23 percent domestic increase over 2010 in SRA.
· Industry organizations publicly extolled Brooks and its products with coveted honors.
o The
Independent Running Retailer Association (IRRA) members crowned Brooks
“Vendor of the Year” based on criteria including product consistency,
customer service excellence, and retailer profitability. The IRRA also
named the Brooks Adrenaline GTS “Shoe of the Year.”
o Fleet
Feet Sports crowned Brooks “2011 Supplier of the Year” at its annual
National Franchise Conference in June for providing excellent product,
support, and services. Fleet Feet also noted last year Brooks became the
first brand to log more than $20 million in sales across its 90-store
franchise network.
· When surveyed, SRA owners give Brooks high marks as a business partner and for personal use.
o According to Leisure Trends’ 2011 Run Specialty Distribution Study,
37.5 percent of specialty running store owners and managers use Brooks
when they run, more than three times the next preferred brand.
o In
the recently released Sports Marketing Surveys Running Specialty Store
Sales Survey for fall 2011, Brooks received top honors from a panel of
75 store owners nationwide for Brand Strength Forecast, Market Strength
Forecast, Average Dealer Confidence, and Unweighted Footwear Market
Share, as well as top honors in 12 of 17 Brand Ratings:
§ Overall Mean Rating;
§ Performance Technology;
§ Credibility with Serious Runners;
§ Current Consumer Interest;
§ Overall Product Appeal New Line vs. Current Line;
§ In House Customer Service;
§ Product Availability (At-once);
§ Speed of Delivery (At-once);
§ Speed of Delivery (Advance);
§ Profit to Dealer;
§ Sales Rep Support;
§ Company’s Terms/Policies.
With 2011 ending with
a bang, Brooks’ 2012 momentum is at an all-time high. For spring,
Brooks’ global backlog is up 45 percent and the outlook for the rest of
the year shows no sign of fatigue.
For more information about Brooks’ performance running footwear, apparel, and accessories, please visit www.brooksrunning.com.
About Brooks
Brooks
Sports, Inc. is a leading running company that designs and markets a
line of performance footwear, apparel, and accessories in more than 60
countries worldwide. A subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Brooks was
founded in 1914 and is headquartered in Bothell, Wash., near Seattle.
The company’s mission is to inspire everyone to run and be active by
creating innovative gear that keeps them running longer, farther, and
faster. Visit www.brooksrunning.com for more information, and follow frequent brand updates on Twitter (@brooksrunning) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/
