NPD’s Retail and Brand Landscape Report Series

Teens, Athletic Footwear, and the Retail Channels in Which They Meet

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With the back-to-school retail season underway, The NPD Group, Inc., a leading market research company, released an analysis of where and why teens purchase athletic footwear from its Retail and Brand Landscape Report Series. While the shopping destinations of choice are discount stores and mass merchants, department stores are gaining some traction with this demographic.

“Successfully converting a willing shopper to a purchasing shopper is critical. In this period of changing consumer spending, retailers can’t afford to lose opportunities to capture a greater share of that spending”

According to NPD’s Consumer Tracking Service, teens ages 13 to 17 accounted for almost 20 percent of athletic footwear sales during the back- to- school selling season (July, August, and September) during the past 3 seasons. An examination of this age group in the Retail and Brand Landscape Report Series shows that discount stores and mass merchants rank number one in converting teen shoppers from considering them as a place to shop and to get them to make a purchase. The 2010 results represent an increase for these types of stores among male teens (from fifth last year to first this year), while for female teens they stayed in the number one position from last year to this.

Percent of Consumers Willing to Consider the Retailer and Make a Purchase

Male Teen Athletic Footwear
		Conversion to Purchase
	Purchase	%		LY Rk	LY %		Pt Chg
	1. Discount Stores/Mass Merchants	52.3	%	5	23.4	%	28.9
	2. Department Stores	47.3	%	6	11.1	%	36.2
	3. Vertical Shoe Stores	44.9	%
	4. Athletic Footwear Specialty and Sporting Goods	39.3	%	3	31.0	%	8.3
	5. National Chain	37.2	%	4	30.7	%	6.5
	6. Shoe Chains and Multi Brand Shoe Stores	35.3	%	2	33.8	%	1.5
	The NPD Group, Inc. /The Retail and Brand Landscape Report 2010

Female Teen Athletic Footwear
		Conversion to Purchase
	Purchase	%		LY Rk	LY %		Pt Chg
	1. Discount Stores/Mass Merchants	58.7	%	1	45.6	%	13.1
	2. Shoe Chains and Multi Brand Shoe Stores	46.8	%	2	37.9	%	8.9
	3. National Chain	42.6	%	3	35.8	%	6.8
	4. Department Stores	41.8	%	6	12.8	%	29.0
	5. Athletic Footwear Specialty and Sporting Goods	38.0	%	4	27.9	%	10.1
	6. Vertical Shoe Stores	37.4	%
	The NPD Group, Inc. /The Retail and Brand Landscape Report 2010

The channel that seems to have benefited the most from the shifts in the retail landscape this year is the department store channel. For male teens department stores have moved up four places this year to the number two place for converting shoppers into buyers of athletic footwear. Department stores also moved up the ranking with female teen shoppers and by two places, from number six last year to number four this year.

“Successfully converting a willing shopper to a purchasing shopper is critical. In this period of changing consumer spending, retailers can’t afford to lose opportunities to capture a greater share of that spending,” said Dee Warmath, senior vice president, Retail Insights at NPD. “In the case of department stores, these improvements indicate that they have made a more compelling impression on teen shoppers, are satisfying a greater share of their priorities and then getting them to make a purchase.”

The report series also looks at what the list of priorities are for these teen shoppers when it comes to choosing a store.

Male Teen Athletic Footwear
Top 5 Priorities for Purchase
Athletic/ Sports Footwear for a male teen 2009	Athletic/ Sports Footwear for a male teen 2010
Is a store for you	Is a store for you
Carries the styles you want	Carries the styles you want
Has a lot of sales or special deals	Carries products to fit your needs
Has high quality products	Is growing in popularity
Has salespeople who can recommend	Has salespeople who can recommend
The NPD Group, Inc. /The Retail and Brand Landscape Report 2010

Female Teen Athletic Footwear
Top 5 Priorities for Purchase
Athletic/ Sports Footwear for a female teen 2009	Athletic/ Sports Footwear for a female teen 2010
Carries products to fit your needs	Is a store for you
Is a store for you	Carries products to fit your needs
Is a full service store	Carries the styles you want
Is affordable	Is growing in popularity
Has salespeople who can recommend	Has a lot of sales or special deals
The NPD Group, Inc. /The Retail and Brand Landscape Report 2010

In 2010, purchasers of teen athletic footwear still want a store that fits who they are from the perspective of experience and product offering. What is new is the increase in importance of being seen as ‘growing in popularity,’ with a greater percentage of teen athletic footwear purchases being based on how teens perceive others are viewing the product.

“These shifts in priorities mirror the broader pattern we’ve seen,“ noted Warmath, “Consumers are no longer looking to ‘get stuff,’ it is much more about getting the right stuff, and right stuff is being determined to a greater extent by what others are saying about your product and brand. Appealing to consumers desires to make an appropriate investment and finding products that satisfy the greatest share of their priorities will be key to being successful.”

About The NPD Group, Inc.

The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us, visit http://www.npd.com/, or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/npdgroup.