sportstyle

By Bob McGee C hange is underfoot everywhere. It will force both vendors and retailers to stay on their toes in 2024 to avoid pitfalls to their growth and expansion plans, not to mention their ability to stay on stable ground in an ever-shiing environment. Here, we break down some of the key issues that will play roles in how the business year develops around the globe for consumers, retailers, and brands. 1. The 'I's Have It: Inflation, Interest Rates, and IPOs Inflation, interest rates, and the IPO market all bear watching in 2024. Early indications suggest the first two will be coming down over the next year in the U.S., including at least three interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. e recent slowing of U.S. inflation to slightly more than 2.5 percent, according to the president of the New York Fed, has been aided by normalized factory production, supply chains, and consumer habits and the more recent cooling of labor markets. Meanwhile, global inflation declined to 5.7 percent in 2023 from 8.1 percent the prior year and is forecast to slip to 3.9 percent in 2024. As for initial public offerings, aka IPOs, Goldman Sachs, for one, thinks the market for them has "materially improved" aer two dreadful years and some "more meaningful" ones should emerge this year. In the footwear segment specifically, Birkenstock launched an IPO that did not meet expectations last October. In early January, Salomon and Arc'teryx parent Amer Sports filed documents for its IPO intent without issuing an opening price or debut date for its publicly traded shares. And there is already building anticipation about some other possible IPO filings in the coming months, including one for brand portfolio-heavy Authentic Brands, which owns Reebok and newly added Sperry among other brands. 2. The Economy and Elections There are divergent takes on the U.S. economy in 2024, ahead of the November presidential election that will likely be a rematch of Biden versus Trump. Meanwhile, it should be noted that 60 nations governing more than 4 billion people will conduct leadership elections this year, including Taiwan (Jan. 13), Mexico (June 2), Brazil (Oct. 6), India (April-May), and Russia (March 17). Goldman Sachs appears to have less worry than a host of prognosticators who foresee a consumer slowdown, a bank 4 • January/February 2024 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com NEWS/ANALYSIS BUSINESS OUTLOOK 2024: 5 KEY ISSUES TO WATCH

• Cover