State of The Market: September 2023

Scoot Trade debuts on a pretty bleak scooter market, which has been challenging to say the least. We are here to deliver the latest in scoot industry news, so brands and retailers can take better informed decision, thus leading to further growth.

The pandemic boom has left many brands and distributors overstocked.

Retail sales have been slow across the globe since last July 21.

The war on Europe’s doorsteps adds to the gloomy mood.

The end of the summer is providing a slight uptake, while optimism is slowly building back up.

Talking to many retailers across the globe, taking “The Pulse” of the industry, “stable sales” has been a pretty rare comment!

Most retailers have experiences slow sales the past year, following the same pattern as the skate industry, down 30% or more.

Most shops and brands have been forced to drastically cut down on their expenses, cutting down staff and marketing expenses to the minimum.

Many pro riders lost their paycheck, and the industry lost many good employees, as businesses strive to simply survive. 

A few shops have closed their doors, and so did iconic brand TSI.

Stock excesses are the biggest danger currently facing the industry, a melting glacier still flooding the market with discounts.

The Pandemic also helped the growth of online buying habits, straining even more the brick and mortars retailers.

The industry has seen that before, and its devastating effects on specialty retailers.

One upside is the availability of heavily discounted products, completes in particular. This gives the opportunity to retailers to offer great deals and get new riders starting on better gear.

The biggest upside on this austere market is the strength of the sport, scootering is still growing. The “skater hate” is tempering down as the riding level increase, and overall the sport is gaining more visibility and acceptance in the Action Sports realm.

The best riding and world firsts are not limited anymore to a small elite, there is a new and large contingent of impressive riders that nourish kids social media feeds and motivations.

Today’s most impressive clip is most likely from a rider you never heard of… from somewhere you never heard of!

With burgeoning federations in Europe, a US championships series, 2 sets of World Champs, thus despite lack of financial support, the competitive scene is growing healthier and spreading globally.

The street scene is still going off with street jams getting huge crowds and massive hype.  

In addition, snow-scoots , dirt-scoots and vert riding are coming around giving scootering a more robust image as a global sport, and more presence in Action Sports shows.

The sport is strong, the sales are bad… Sales will get better. The market will turn a new leaf, with a new sales cycle pushed by the next generation of riders.

For those new 8 to 12 scooter aficionados, the scooter community needs to provide a welcoming and striving environment, to keep them into the sport and build tomorrow’s market.

We also hope that in the future the industry as a whole will be able to forecast up-coming crisis and offer a cooperative response to avoid the worst. Scoot Trade aims to have a strong role there, sharing information and getting brands together. 

** Next Retailer Poll! We will poll retailers globally on their best selling products