Fanatics CEO Doug Mack appeared on CNBC yesterday to discuss online sales, noting Cyber Monday data was showing "double-digit comps early in the day" compared to last year, which was the “biggest day in our company’s history." Mack: “This is one really important day in an overall most important time of year for us.” Mack said the “mobile story is unbelievable” in terms of sales and it “feels like there's no ceiling to it.” Mack: “Last week, the ‘Cyber Week,’ mobile was bigger for us in both traffic and revenues than any week we've ever had for mobile.” Mack said the company has been “preparing all year for this: Better search technology, faster browsing, making sure that we've got really easy ability to locate merchandise and to transact all the way through.” The company has begun “looking at the holiday as a marathon and it’s not just about ‘Cyber Week.’ It's about the 50 days of holiday and we're also looking at margins. Even though we've been growing at a faster rate than industry reports on overall e-commerce shopping, we've done so at an increased margin year over year.” Mack said in terms of which sports are the best sellers, the company is “seeing many more micro trends. ... Our college business was very strong." He added the NHL jersey business is "extremely strong right now." Meanwhile, Mack said of Lakers G Kobe Bryant announcing his retirement, "We obviously didn't know that was coming either but we were prepared for it with lots of great Kobe inventory. He immediately grew yesterday year-over-year 260 percent." Mack: "It moved him up to the No. 2 slot in overall NBA sales, behind Steph Curry but ahead of LeBron James and Kevin Durant and ultimately put him into the top ten of all athletes in sports yesterday in terms of his sales" ("Squawk Alley," CNBC, 11/30).
HOLIDAY TRENDS: NPD Group industry analyst Matt Powell said of sporting goods sales in '15, "This year has been an especially robust one for many major facets of the sports industry, from footwear and apparel to equipment and cycling. The holiday season can only give these markets added thrust to close out 2015 on the highest note we’ve seen in a while. Outdoor is all the rage, cycling is showing some gains, and 2015 will likely go down as one of the strongest growth years in the last decade for the athletic footwear industry." The research firm on its blog noted the Classics footwear category is up 27% in dollar sales, "an increase of 25 percentage points compared to last year, making it the fastest-growing athletic footwear category" (NPD.com, 11/25).
