BOULDER, Colo. (BRAIN) — The NPD Group’s Sports and Leisure Trends business in September will begin reporting broader cycling sales data that, in addition to independent bike dealers, will also include big-box retailers, sporting goods chains, department stores, wholesale clubs and e-commerce operations. The change coincides with July sales data set for September release.
Market research company NPD acquired Leisure Trends Group last year, and June sales figures will mark the last month the two report data on their independent systems, Jim Kelly, president of Sports and Leisure Trends, said during a webinar and call Wednesday about the companies’ integration.
Leisure Trends historically has tracked sell-through for cycling through the specialty channel, while NPD Group’s expertise in various industries has been at mass retail. During Wednesday’s call, Kelly singled out the bike business as an area that would benefit from the two organizations’ synergies.
“In the cycling channel right now we track sales in the IBD channel, the specialty stores for the bike business. But there is a lot of additional volume happening in the bike business across a variety of stores, from the sporting goods channels to the mass retailers to toy merchants such as Toys R Us. A lot of that data we’re already getting in house right now, so we had the opportunity to expand that to provide a much larger picture of categories that we’re currently tracking across additional channels,” he said.
Kelly also noted that the merger has helped with retailer recruitment efforts at the combined company, which recently brought aboard outdoor chains Cabela’s and Eastern Mountain Sports.