“What Sports Do You Most Want to Learn?”–Why Action Sports%uFFFD Greatest Market Opportunities Exist with Females

This question providesinsight into the aspirational aspects of youth culture -whether they actually participate in these sports or not, and just want to be associated with the sports via their lifestyle influences such as fashion, watching their favorite professional athletes or events; footwear choices, and sense of identity.

For the past 5 years, based on our research results, female percentages of those who want to learn action sports, namely snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, and wakeboarding have been higher than males, indicating a strong potential marketplace.Interestingly however, most action sports brands tend to cater to the male marketplace first, introducing with many new styles in softgoods and hardgoods, than after, create products for females.

Obviously there are challenges in reaching the females marketplace, particularly in apparel since more females tend to shop in a wider range of locations seeking out different styles. However with the ongoing interest among females to learn, and be associated with top action sports, this remains a strong market opportunity, despite things like the recession.

One of the highest categories for females vs. males is for the sport of skateboarding. Skateboarding, as we%uFFFDve seen over the past several years, has dropped among specific demographics for males (more information on specific demographics are revealed in our North American Youth Culture Study 2009). This is followed by snowboarding which continues to have a steady percentage among females, but significantly higher at more than 10% than males within the same age demographic.