Selling action sports equipment and accessories is an “extreme” challenge

By Melissa Sepos

While skateboarding’s median age is 16, its customer base ranges from 11 to 40. And the market is vast: An estimated 8 million skaters live in the United States and about 16 million worldwide.

Skateboarders are a fashion-conscious, technically demanding, brand-oriented, impressionable bunch. Their brand-driven buying is largely a function of the skateboarding industry. Typical of most action sports, athletes are sponsored by equipment manufacturers, and fans want to emulate the pros. According to Forrester Research, heavily branded, high-style products, such as action sports apparel, are among the most Web-friendly merchandise categories. Online apparel sales are predicted to grow to $22.5 billion by 2004.