This Week in The B.O.S.S. Report

TOP STORIES:
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o Yakima moves ahead with new leadership...
o Woolrich announces succession plans.
o New markets and acquisitions play a central role in
five-year growth plans.
o Forzani continues to see upside from repositioning
in spite of weather woes.
o Helly Hansen restructures North American management
team.
o Backcountry.com sees 56% sales growth in 2006.
o Cloudveil opens first retail store.
o SIA: Snow Sports sales declines level off in January.
o Other Stories include 3point5, ATTA, Burton, The Walking
Co., Cabela's, Ulu, Outdoor Industry Foundation, and many more...

Some Excerpts:

While Heinlen admits the company has seen some difficulties over the past
year, he is already seeing the benefits from these initiatives. “A lot of the story around the industry regarding Yakima in 2006 was that we hit some rough spots. I know that in the first half of the year there were some weak deliveries, some delayed launches, and some inconsistent product availability. The last six months of these initiatives has put us in an excellent position for 2007,” said Heinlen. “We made some changes in our logistics system and our transit times are shorter, and today I believe 75% or more of our products ship the same day. We’ve also cut our transit times in half...


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At its peak, Simple was close to $40 million in revenues. In 2005, the brand did about $8 million. Since launching the Green Toe initiative, Simple has started to grow again with 2006 sales up 58% for the year...


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One of the primary drivers of revenues for VF will be owned-retail. At the end of 2006 VFC had 538 owned-retail locations. Management sees the opportunity to add about 75 to 100 new stores per year over the coming years. Those new doors would mean that retail would grow from about 13% of total sales in 2006 to 18% or more in a few years. In 2007, VFC expects retail to contribute roughly $1 billion to the top line...


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Backcountry.com 2006 sales increased 56% to $82 million from $52 million in 2005. The company recorded its busiest day on December 11, one week after Cyber Monday when the company shipped nearly 12,000 orders...


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