For all that they share in common, retailers and resorts often exist in completely separate universes. They share the same customers and the goal of increasing the number of skiers and riders who buy goods and services. But there is rarely more than an informal and indirect connection between the two, and the potential for joint marketing is often unrealized.

For the beginner experience, good communication between resort and retailer can be especially significant. The first-time retail experience is a major stepping-stone if you are a new skier or snowboarder. It represents not only a financial commitment, but a metaphorical one as well.

Connecting the retail experience to the resort experience via incentives is one way to build beginner retention in skiing and snowboarding. Whether it’s deals on lift tickets, lessons, or lodging, a few retailers and resorts are looking at this junction as an opportunity to turn new participants into lifetime devotees.


Rental to Retail
Last year, Wachusett Mountain Resort in Massachusetts worked with Head to institute an innovative program to drive retail purchases through their rental program. It was simple, really, but effective: sign a rental-gear agreement and once your lesson’s over, head over to the resort’s retail shop and get a discount on new Head product. The resort is able to capitalize on that elation of the first day out and get newbies to invest in their future participation. Plus, people feel pretty good when they get a deal.

Carolyn Stimpson, VP of mountain services at Wachusett, says the program involves a bit of a compromise, but it’s worth it to build loyalty with new participants. “Rentals are such a good margin business that it’s tough to say, ‘I’d rather put this renter into retail.’ But from my perspective—and there is a difference having rental and retail on-premise—I want them to be skiers and once they get skis, they are skiers.”

The success of the program relies on participation of employees, so rental staff and instructors were given a monetary incentive to sell the promotion to guests. Wachusett also worked closely with Head marketing director Mike Bisner to set the program up.

“With Wachusett, we’ve tried to link the rental customer into moving one engagement step closer to the sport by purchasing,” says Bisner. “A person who owns equipment is more engaged than someone who rents equipment.”


Purchase Incentives
One of the most obvious routes to get never-ever participants to the hill from the store is to provide an incentive.

On the brand side of things, Burton’s Go Snowboarding program is a collaborative effort with select resorts aimed at introducing people to snowboarding. Select Burton snowboards will have a sticker on them at the point-of-purchase, directing the customer to go online and sign up for a free lesson and lift package at one of Burton’s “partner” resorts. The promotion can be transferred to the customer’s family or friends if they like.

This achieves the main goal of the resort-retail connection: to get new participants from the store to the hill and into a lesson, where they will learn proper technique and hopefully have a better day overall.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, a major sports retailer in the U.S., has built a similar program at its home base in Pennsylvania. Dick’s already had a relationship with nearby Seven Springs Resort for discounted passes, and snowsports buyer Rick Steinle further developed that relationship by working with the resort to start an incentive program tied to select Dick’s locations. Customers who bought a certain dollar amount of snowsports gear were eligible for a discounted lodging offer or a discounted learn-to-ski or-snowboard program at the resort.

The response so far hasn’t been “huge,” says Robert Duppstadt, communications manager for Seven Springs, but the area was very happy with the program’s first year. It’s not really a numbers game, he says; it’s more about cultivating that lifelong participant. Even small numbers make a big difference when it comes to real beginner retention.

“Our goal is to teach people properly by getting them into a beginner package and then turning them into a lifetime skier or snowboarder—and, of course, we want to help Dick’s sell equipment,” says Duppstadt.

Steinle believes dollar savings are the best way to entice new people to take advantage of resort-retail connections, but they have to be tailored to each market. “It depends on the area,” he says. “With somewhere like Texas, it would make more sense to do lodging as well as discount tickets, but in Vermont or New Hampshire, if we’re talking about attracting the true entry-level participant into the sport, it needs to be the lesson as well as the ticket.”


In-Store Stoke
One often-overlooked strategy that is particularly effective: getting your customers excited and in the right equipment straight out of the gate. In cities, this is a particularly important role, says David Ingemie, president of Snowsport Industries America (SIA). “In cities, the retailer is the closest [industry] person to that customer,” he says. “They can prepare them, they can train them; they can do a lot of important things.”

Gander Tawaststjerna co-owns Boardsports, a speciality store in the heart of Toronto, Canada’s biggest city. Tawaststjerna has had great success in the beginner market, which he credits to his and his employees’ unwavering enthusiasm. A large percentage of his customers have never been to a ski area before, he says, and you have to work hard at giving that customer a great experience as soon as they walk in the door—they have nothing invested in the sport and lose nothing in walking away.

“If I can’t be excited about snowboarding, then who else can help them get started?” he says. “It starts with me. They walk in the door, and I have to give them an emotional experience to get them to make that first step to purchase the stuff.”

Tawaststjerna says the key is taking the time to correctly identify the new participant’s needs—not just selling them a “beginner” package. They mostly have no idea whether they are goofy or regular, so he helps them figure it out and select the right equipment for their body type. When people walk out, especially teens, they’re not only pumped about getting the new stuff, they are extra-pumped when they get to the hill with all their brand new, brand-name, non-beginner-looking gear. They’re already well on their way to a great first day.


Creating Lifelong Participants
Tawaststjerna points out that accessibility in an urban market is a big deal. He sees it all the time: a kid wants a snowboard for Christmas, and his or her parents would buy it if they knew how their child would get to a hill.

Promoting shop-to-resort buses is a great way to address this, he says, so that people have options.

The key to all these points is looking at discounted or free products, such as lessons, as an investment, not a freebie.