The great thing about action sports is that it's always been a trendsetter in our culture. Whether it be forward thinking apparel, combining fashion/music/art, or taking the word sports and making it 'extreme', there's always something new brewing in the cauldron. What's next on the horizon in our world of retail is a company called
Action Sports Ready (ASR). Like all innovative brands in our industry (see FCS, Quiksilver, Creatures of Leisure, Simon Anderson's tri-fins, etc.), this idea was also hatched in Australia. The company's mantra is pretty straightforward: With the explosion of technical products in action sports (like composite surfboards, $100 boardshorts, and wetsuits made for astronauts), it's hard for the retail salesperson to keep up to date on all the innovations and in turn they aren't selling efficiently as they could be. That's where
Action Sports Ready comes into play. The idea is to get retail staff up to speed with the new products coming from the manufacturers. Companies like Hurley create short 45 second videos which are hosted on
ASR's website and the salesperson reviews them and takes a quiz. Once educated over a period of time, the salesperson can become certified. What's great about the concept is that the salesperson becomes knowledgeable and in turn is more comfortable selling the products. So the manufacturer moves more goods, the shop increases it's bottom line, the retail salesperson broadens their action sports career path, and the customer is happy that they made the right purchase. In the short 9 months it's been running in Australia, they've signed up Quiksilver, Electric Visual, Sanuk, DC Shoes, Hurley, Rhythm, Global Surf Industries, Billabong, FCS, Rusty, Futures Fins, Roxy, and Skull Candy. Retailers have taken notice and
ASR is on track for nearly 50% shop involvement so far with the goal being 100% in the near future. With that success,
Action Sports Ready is aiming to have a similar program here in the states by spring time. Now if we can somehow get Action Sports Ready to create the first ever Action Sports College...
