April 05, 2013 – This letter is to introduce you to SnowSports Industries America (SIA), the not-for-profit, member-owned trade association based in Washington, DC for suppliers of winter sports products in the U.S. Some of you may already be familiar with SIA. We perform four major functions for our supplier owners:

– Develop and execute various consumer marketing initiatives aimed at stimulating consumers to buy more of our members’ products at retail locations

– Produce and distribute market, product and consumer research

– Interact as necessary with government affair issues to include tariffs, quotas, product safety and other topics

– Organize and manage the international trade show and its associated on-snow demo (the SIA Snow Show in Denver in late January)

As you are likely aware, the National Snowsports Industries Association (NSIA) decided to close its doors and surrender its charter. As a result, SIA has been approached by a significant number of senior management personnel at Canadian suppliers to ‘fill the void’ left by the exit of NSIA. Specifically, we have been asked to do the following:

Continue the End of Season and Bookings (EOS & B) Reporting – we have received twelve years of historic reports from NSIA. We are in the process of communicating to those brands that have been reporting data for these reports and we will also solicit participation among brands whose categories are reported but who have not been reporting. SIA has done similar research for the U.S. market for more than 35 years.

Investigate Retail Brand Share Reporting in Canada – as some of you may know, we also produce reports from data directly obtained from retail point-of-purchase systems (about 1,200 storefronts) here in the U.S. Reports are issued monthly for the six months in the midst of the winter selling period. We have begun the process of determining the viability of producing similar reports for the Canadian market.

Attract Canadian Suppliers, Retailers, Reps and Media to the SIA Snow Show – with the termination of NSIA, the national trade show that was held in Montreal will no longer exist. Therefore, we will be working to motivate all involved in the industry in Canada to attend the SIA Snow Show and Demo. We currently get significant Canadian representation but will strive to get more attendance.

Look into Organizing Regional, Industry On-snow Demos – for suppliers and reps to allow retailers and media the opportunity to ‘test drive’ the products in the following years’ collection.

Expand our Consumer Marketing Programs into Canada – we have a multi-faceted consumer outreach program to encourage individuals (and families) to get into any of the various winter sports and/or to participate more and, ultimately, buy more of our members’ products. We are in communication with the Canadian Ski Council (CSC) to determine how we can improve relations and collaborate to improve the ski and snowboard industry in Canada.

Become involved in any government affairs issues as necessary in Canada.

For those of you who have been completing the EOS & B reports, we will also be communicating with you directly in order to begin the process for the EOS report data submissions for this year.

If you have any questions or comments on this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me directly by either email dingemie@snowsports.org or telephone (703) 506-4225.