Industry Giants

SOURCE: DC Shoes

The economic principle I’m exploring is “People generally respond to incentives in predictable ways.

“My research question to help me study the economic principle is “How Profitable is Snowboarding as a sport”

 The article (SELECT ONE) published in [The Richest] titled “..[The Biggest Snowboard Companies on the Slopes]...” demonstrates this economic principle by arguing/showing net profit for companies, comparing different companies profits, and analyzing their success. 

First, The website displays a list of the ten most profitable snowboarding companies. At number one is DC, a skate and snowboarding company. They made $498 million in 2012, making nearly $200 million more than the second company, Volcom. Volcom made $332 million in revenue in 2012, which places them at second in most profitable. And finally in third place is Burton, with a revenue of $100 million. While this article was written in 2012, and Burton has risen to the top over the past seven years, it is interesting to see how the power dynamic has changed. With DC making over 400 million dollars more than Burton in 2012, I wonder what happened to DC. 

Second, when comparing the profits of each company, there is clearly something to learn from DC, considering they made $200 million more. I believe that part of their success has to come with branding and appeal. In my experience, DC is a very reliable snowboard company. Their boots last a while, and their boards are crafted well. I believe that their success comes from focusing on quality with a cheap price. Volcom on the other hand tends to focus on design and appeal, instead of build quality. Volcom also tends to spend a lot of money on marketing and normal street apparel. While I believe that Burton equally focuses on appeal and how well the board rides. 

Third, between these three companies, the most profitable one was a company that focused on producing snowboarding boots, because of their reputable past with shoes. Prior to producing snowboarding boots, they produced skateboarding shoes. The article states that DC is “One of the largest snowboarding companies in the world, due to their strong marketing campaigns, their parent company, Quicksilver, and great business practices.” For the second most profitable company, Volcom, snowboarding is simply a side job for them. Volcom heavily focuses on clothing and producing apparel for extreme sports. Their boards are known for being “flash and functional” and are very respected in the industry. The third company, Burton, was the company that started the snowboarding craze. They were one of the first companies to massively produce these boards and have great success selling them. Like Volcom, Burton makes most of their money from their clothing brand, yet, snowboarding would not be the sport it is today without Burton. 

 In my next blog post I will research the question: Is new technology actively being developed for Snowboarding?