Columbia Sportswear 1999 Annual Report Download - page 7

Growth Strategies
Further Develop existing merchandise categories
Footwear
Columbia Sportswear’s footwear category has also
benefited from the athletic business
slowdown, generating revenues of $44
million in 1999 versus $32
million in 1998, a 38 percent
increase. Our strength as a
provider of high quality,
competitively priced
branded footwear is
complemented by
styles that fully
merchandise
across all
Columbia
categories,
creating a total
product package for
retailers.
In order to gain a larger
portion of the global
brown shoe market, which is
estimated at $5.6 billion2, we’ll
augment our established All-Weather
category with more styles that provide year-
round sales opportunities and with additional
women’s specific collections. In addition, we are
aggressively targeting footwear-only retailers to gain
greater presence in this potentially lucrative retail
segment.
Outerwear
Outerwear, our most mature product category,
continues to provide a significant portion of
Columbia’s overall revenue at $258 million in net
sales in 1999. The U.S. outerwear market, estimated
at $10.8 billion3, still affords Columbia room to
expand in this category and we plan to achieve this
through diversification to reach a broader audience.
Columbia’s popular high performance TitaniumTM
collection positions the brand as a credible technical
apparel supplier to specialty retailers, and our
volume-oriented price point lines address specific
target audiences like snowboarders who are seeking
fresh new looks each season. In addition, we’ll
continue to expand our women’s line, the breadth
and variety of which is unique in the outdoor
marketplace.
Long ago, we realized that product diversification was the key to
reducing the seasonality of the business and achieving long-term
growth. To this end, we launched sportswear and footwear
programs in 1993, both of which are reducing Columbia’s
former dependence on outerwear sales and creating excit-
ing new growth opportunities for the brand and the
Company. In 1999 sportswear and footwear accounted
for 32 percent and 9 percent of worldwide sales respec-
tively, after just seven years of concentrating our
efforts in each of these markets.
Sportswear
Columbia is capitalizing on the increased popularity of individual,
outdoor-oriented activities like hiking, fishing, mountain biking, and
trail running, among others which have captured market share from team
athletics and associated brands. To generate excitement among consumers,
department store buyers tell us they are looking for alternative definitions of
“active” and Columbia’s brand of active outdoor sportswear like GRT®(Gear for
Rugged Trekking, Travel, Training) apparel is a great solution. In addition, as we have added
broader year-round product offerings, and invested in new distribution capabilities, department stores have
become increasingly interested in selling Columbia Sportswear products.
Going forward, we will continue to expand GRT®, which has become the fastest growing segment of our sports-
wear business, and will further develop our sportswear offerings in youth and extended sizes. With an estimated
U.S. market opportunity of $34.7 billion1, Columbia’s 1999 sportswear sales of $149 million, which were up 25
percent over 1998, still have plenty of room to grow.
1 2 3 4
2
Further develop existing
merchandise categories
1according to Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association
1999 State of the Industry Report
2based on Sporting Goods Intelligence 1998 World Branded Brown Shoe
Market Survey
3based on US Customs data for 1999