Team Insight

The Team Insight Vendor Roundtable on Goals and Nets looks at challenges and opportunities. By Michael Jacobsen EQUIPMENT: GOALS/NETS GOING FOR THE GOAL 20 • Team Insight ~ May/June 2022 teaminsightmag.com Let's start with the big question: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your business? Brent Ogle, Blazer: e real question is how hasn't the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our business. e pandemic disrupted the way we do business and caused us to rethink many facets of our operational management. e good news is that 2021 and 2022 have brought heavy demand for our products and we are not seeing that demand slow down anytime soon. Laura St. George, Gared: Gared had a very successful sales year in 2021 with a volume that surpassed pre-COVID levels. We have seen a redistribution of sales by channel focus since 2019 with hopes for rebalancing in 2023. In 2020, our product sales focused on non-tra- ditional applications of traditional sporting products. In 2021, Gared has seen the transition of a return to normal sporting environments. Zach Meller, Champion Sports: Over the past year, COVID-19 has impacted our busi- ness more abroad than domestically. Supply chain disruption, shipping container scarcity, steamline increased shipping rates and port and factory closures due to outbreaks have all been choppy waters to navigate. Lisa Ebersole, Spalding: Our equipment business, which focuses on team sports, was impacted by decreases in participation and event cancellations across the country. As return-to-play has accelerated, the demand for equipment products has followed, which is really encouraging. Russ Schirmer, Carron Net: ough the pandemic truly isn't over, the dampening of team sports is certainly on the wane. e struggle to get imported products and the ever-growing appeal of high-quality U.S.-made nets has made us nearly the busiest we have been in the history of our company. Chris Livingston, Bison: It's obviously been a challenging two years for us just like everyone else, but this past year specically, has been incredibly busy in a good way. e lack of buying from the previous year gave way to a pent-up demand that led to record sales. Chris Bawcum, Trigon Sports: 2020 was a challenge in the beginning, that's for sure, as it was for many companies with imme- diate school closings and our team dealers forced to nd other avenues of selling. We did make an immediate pivot and focus on backyard-related items and pushed programs through our dealers to help sell to the backyard market, which became very popular during the safer-at-home period. is in turn led us to buy the Practice Partner company that had a huge focus on backyard training items. Just what impact have supply chain problems had on your business? Bawcum: We were somewhat fortunate in the fact that we bought heavy early so we did have some carryover inventory. However, we did see a slight dip in getting inventory replaced on our most popular items due in part to manufacturing delays or lack of access to certain raw materials. Aside from that, overall import and container prices are through the roof now — two years ago it would cost $9000 to move a 40-foot container. Now we are approaching $30,000 or more just in container costs. Now we are faced with rising domestic shipping costs from all lanes. St. George: Our extensive product oerings allowed for a pivot of purchasing. If we had sold out of a particular requested product, we were able to provide an alternative play solution. e biggest impact from supply chain bottlenecks has been the material and transportation costs incurred. e cost increase allowed us to re-evaluate our position in the market and led to an overhaul of pricing structure, which simplied the process for our dealers.. Ebersole: e global supply chain seems to have impacted every business in some way or another. We've experienced the same raw material shortages and cost pressures as ev- eryone else and have focused our energy on nding creative solutions. Meller: e impact has been wide ranging. On the positive side, the demand for product is certainly there. Industry-wide stock and CHRIS LIVINGSTON Sales Manager, Bison BRENT OGLE Co-Owner, Blazer Athletics RUSS SCHIRMER Director of Sales, Carron Net ZACHARY MELLER Executive Vice President, Champion Sports LAURA ST. GEORGE EVP, Gared LISA EBERSOLE Product Marketing Manager, Spalding CHRIS BAWCUM Vice President, Trigon Sports SITTING AT THE TABLE

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