Sporting Goods Retailers Continue Striking Out: Is Experiential Retail The Home Run Needed?

Outdoor and sporting goods retailers have suffered a big blow in sales during the past couple of years, forcing many to file bankruptcy.

One reason is that this fiercely competitive sector has been hit particularly hard as Amazon and other e-commerce competitors oftentimes can offer a larger number of options at more competitive prices.

The latest casualty is St. Paul, Minn.-based Gander Mountain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month, announcing it will close 32 of its 162 stores.

Gander Mountain experienced "challenging traffic patterns and shifts in consumer demand resulting from increased direct-to-customer sales by key vendors and accelerated growth of e-commerce," according to a company statement.

Other bankruptcies included Sports Authority, which was one of the nation's biggest sporting goods chains, which liquidated in 2016 and closed its more than 450 stores.

Other casualties that have filed bankruptcy include MC Sports, Eastern Outfitters, Golfsmith, Total Hockey and Southern California-based Sport Chalet - which had been in business for 57 years.

E-commerce is not solely to blame for the demise

"Certainly online sales are a major deal," David Brennan, marketing professor at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, told VTS. Many brick-and-mortar retailers are finding it challenging to adapt quickly enough to compete in this highly competitive digital marketplace.

"But there's a bigger story and that's overall retail sales growth has slowed," Brennan said. "Retail sales changed after the Great Recession. It had been growing at the rate of five percent-plus and now it's in the range of four percent or a little less."

Also, the sporting goods sector took a hit from the deep discounting that occurred throughout much of the retail industry during the 2016 holiday season.

There are other factors too.

Debt can get in the way

Both Sports Authority and Sport Chalet suffered with major debt after being acquired by other firms, the Los Angeles Times reports.