I know of quite a few core skate retailers who are in business today only because of the profit they have been able to make from sales of Nike SB during the last couple years. And 25% core market share doesn't mean the brand was 25% of the shoe wall -- Nike SB has been turning twice as fast as the average skate shoe brand, so their share of visual space could be even half of their market share.

I'm sure a lot of these core shops with an "over dependence" on Nike SB are afraid of that dependence, but it has kept their doors open. If Nike SB sales wane (due to expanded distribution of 6.0 or any other potential reason), let's hope these core shops can adjust their strategy and find other ways to make their stores profitable. Indeed, it would be great if they could get it from some of the smaller shoe brands that come up with a "must have" product.

Bill, you can get very detailed and robust stats from SIA. Just like with the ActionWatch market tracking program for surf/skate, retailers can get the snow industry data for free when they participate and suppliers can purchase it from SIA.

Retailers can only add inventory if the suppliers have it available. Most of the major suppliers seem to be saying they are not willing to take the inventory risk, so they will likely not have products in stock for in-season orders if demand goes up. Everyone seems to hope that demand will go up in the second half, but few (if any) suppliers or retailers are willing to take the chance of stocking enough inventory to provide for a demand increase. If demand goes up enough there will likely be a lot of stock-out situations, i.e. missed sales due to lack of merchandise to sell.

Duder,
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking for regarding a complete analysis. The stores making up the ActionWatch Retail Panel are described at the bottom of the post. The weather can certainly affect sales, but this is a national panel with varying weather conditions across the country. Obviously, the biggest affect is coming from the recession. The main thing we're watching for is a sales turnaround when year-over-year sales comparisons turn flat or even positive. I probably haven't answered your request, though, so please let me know more specifically what kind of analysis you would like to see. Thanks.