Реферат: The Impact Of Snowboarding On Retail Marketing

slopes have huge jumps, half-pipes, tables, trashcans, metal pipes,

and even cars for snowboarders to jump on or over. The most

important feature of these special slopes is the fact that skiers are

not allowed on them. The reason that many resorts have added

these snowboard parks is because of the problems between skiers

and snowboarders. (Feldman)

Roger Hauser, the director of Massanutten Ski School, said that

there were quite a few reasons the resort added the "snowboard

only" park five years ago. First of all, he said the mangers of the

mountain were taking a lot of "heat" from skiers because of all the

jumping and tricks the snowboarders were doing on the slopes. He

said that when kids are doing tricks they are going to be falling

down, when they fall down people run into them. So the mountain

added the park and now limits snowboarders who want to do tricks

to use that slope. The rest of the mountain is still open to

snowboarders. Hauser said that since the park was opened there

has been a dramatic decrease in injuries between skier and

snowboard collisions. He also said that business has picked up

about 15% in the past five years, which he believes is attributed to

snowboarding.

Ski resorts are not the only place that business has picked up in

the past five years. The main area of financial growth is the actual

snowboard manufactures of snowboards. Currently there are 117

snowboard companies in the world. (Schacter) Of the 117 there are

five that hold 50% of the market. Burton is number one with an

annual sales of around 30million, Ride is number two, and three,

four and five are: Sims, Morrow, and Anthony. (Baker 1995)

Morrow and Ride have seen the most dramatic increases in the

industry since 1993. The total current assets for Ride in 1993 were