Question for people at Ski shops, What Sells?

Nickc88

Nickc88

Member
Working at a tiny ski shop in eastern PA with a low budget, the current owners have only been selling park boards for the last few years and normal all mountain skis and crappy bindings. They want to start bringing in park skis and ski bindings but we have no info on what brands truly sell and which ones are duds.

any help/insight from people who have worked in shops is appreciated!
 
Maybe go to your local hill and see what the kids are riding?

Price point skis are probably popular with parents and kids.

What manufacturers do you guys rep?

Rep some made in the USA brands might play big in your region yeah?
 
Work with brands you don't have to battle with online shops. Because 90% of the time getting anywhere near that price works as a loss.

For example we are a european shop. Our 2 main brands are Faction and Black Crows. We have decent margins and can even beat online prices some times. They also have blocks on discounts before January etc.

Bindings anything is fine really. As far as prices go Marker Squire and griffon are great value for money. Even if I have preference towards Soly STH2 13s
 
most kids in the program that i work for ski ARV 84s( those are the kids ones) and the older kids ride dollos, rossi slats, ARV 96s and most of all, volkl highlighter bois
 
dont bring in park skis.. they wont sell.. only have a few and spend the rest on the recreational skier. bring in the Nordica Enforcer and Navigator as well as the Atomic Vantage lineup. For the women's side, bring in the Blizzard Black Pearl 88 and 98 as well as the Nordica astral 74. The bread and butter for making money in a ski shop is through the family of 4 that goes maybe 5 times a year and has that once a year trip out west. Park kids have no money and will be a thorn in your side when their mom comes in saying the skis junior trashed should be replaced for free..

bindings: only stock a few of the pivots as they are expensive and wont sell in volume. Instead bring in the marker squire, tyrolia aattack 11s and a handful of 13s. Believe it or not, the majority of people will be fine on the Marker M11 and they make brake widths to accommodate most skis these days.

Your shop is a little late to be purchasing this late. All orders are generally taken in January at Outdoor Retailer or even before (manufacturers offer incentives to lock in orders prior to OR... looking at you TNF and Patagonia.....)
 
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