Wilson evens 6-year battle with Coleman - sales of sporting goods at discount stores - Top Brands, Part 1: Store Manager Survey

Discount Store News, Oct 16, 1989

Wilson Evens 6-Year Battle with Coleman

Wilson edged out Coleman for the No. 1 spot on DSN's 1989 Top Brands Survey, giving each label three wins on the 6-year-old report.

Last year, the two companies were virtually tied but Wilson edged out Coleman by tenths of a percent.

This year, Wilson pulled away with a five percentage point lead over second-place Coleman, which only slightly nosed out Spalding in the No. 3 spot.

Spalding, last year's No. 3 finisher, received more mentions this year as a top performing brand, closing the gap between it and Coleman and becoming more of a challenger for Wilson's top berth.

On the 1989 survey, one-third of all managers surveyed mentioned Wilson as a top performing brand in the sporting goods category, compared to slightly more than one-quarter of the managers naming Coleman and one-fourth the managers saying Spalding.

Zebco, in fourth, was 10 percentage points behind Spalding on the survey but firmly in control of the No. 4 position.

Rounding out the top 10 brands on the 1989 survey (in order) were MacGregor, Huffy, Franklin, Garcia, Berkley and Academy Broadway.

Remington arms, Daiwa fishing and tackle, and Igloo coolers, the eighth, ninth and 10th brands last year, fell off the Top 10 list. This year they are 17th, 11th and 14th, respectively.

Newcomers to Survey

New to the 1989 list are Berkley, a fishing and tackle manufacturer; Franklin, a producer of gloves and sports balls; and Academy Broadway, a diversified sporting goods manufacturer.

Academy Broadway produces such products as boating accessories, backpacking items, inflatables and tents.

For the labels returning to the Top Brands list this year, relatively few changes in rankings were recorded.

Huffy and MacGregor exchanged the No. 5 and No. 6 spots, and Garcia remained in a tie for the seventh spot, this year with Franklin instead of Remington.

Huffy's slip on the chart, most dramatic at upscale discounters, is probably due to flat sales in the bicycle category.

MacGregor recouped some of the ground it lost in 1987 by receiving more mentions this year from both conventional and upscale discounters and among discounters in all four regions. MacGregor did not make the list of top five brands at the individual chains last year but came in fifth this year because of a very strong showing at K mart.

One-quarter of K mart managers surveyed named MacGregor as a top performing brand, giving it the No. 4 spot on its Top Brands list.

At K mart, Coleman products were ranked the top performer, based on manager responses, by only two percentage points. Wilson was second, followed by MacGregor, Spalding and Zebco.

Coleman, which lost some ground at conventional discounters but gained at upscalers, dipped a little at K mart, Wal-Mart and Target, but increased at Ames/Zayre.

At Ames/Zayre, Wilson edged out Coleman for the No. 1 spot, but only by two percentage points. However, fewer Ames/Zayre store managers mentioned Wilson as a top performing brand. Last year, nearly half the managers named Wilson as a top performer compared to one-third the managers this year.

Coleman and Spalding were tied for second place at Ames/Zayre with three in 10 store managers naming each brand as a top performer, up from two in 10 mentions for each one on the prior year's survey.

The most dramatic change in pecking order occurred at Wal-Mart. Managers at the Bentonville, Ark.-based chain said Wilson was their top performing brand followed by Spalding and Zebco, tied for second.

Last year, Wal-Mart managers said Zebco was their top performing brand in the sporting goods category and Coleman was second.

Wilson received its strongest showing at Target.

Two-thirds of Target's store managers said Wilson was their top performing sporting goods brand, up from four in 10 managers a year ago. Spalding was second with four in 10 responses, up from a third the managers last year. Coleman took third place among Target store managers with three in 10 managers naming the popular maker of insulated products.

Wilson, Coleman and Spalding faltered a little in the rankings among the discounters in each of the four regions.

Wilson held on to the No. 1 spot in the Northeast, although in a greatly diminshed capacity, and in the South, and North Central states, in an enhanced position.

Western-based discounters said Coleman was their best performing brand in the sporting goods category, and gave Wilson the second spot, followed by Spalding.

Coleman's performance in the Northeast, South and North Central states declined slightly from a year ago and was equal to 1988 in the West.

Spalding received fewer mentions as a top performer in the Northeast and South.

Table : Sporting Goods How Industry's Top 5 Fare at Chains

Brand               K mart   Wal-Mart   Ames/Zayre   Target
Wilson               28%       37%         32%        61%
Coleman              30        21          30         28
Spalding             23        24          30         42
Zebco                22        24           5          -
MacGregor            25         -           2          3