As first reported on Shop Eat Surf by Tiffany Montgomery, Billabong is purchasing West 49′s 138 mall based shops for $93.5 million as part of a larger industry initiative to expand action sports in the Canadian market. As Tiffany pointed out, with this purchase, Billabong will own a total of 510 stores worldwide. In North America, the deal will increase its stores from 90 to 230. You’ll recall we’ve recently posted information on Billabong’s acquisition of Becker Surf and Swell.com. For the full story on Billabong and West 49 please visit http://www.shop-eat-surf.com/news-item/1789/billabong-to-acquire-west-49/-

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Register before Friday, July 2nd for the Board Retailers Association (BRA) Survival of the Fittest Retail Certification Program at ASR Marketplace on August 12th and Surf Expo on September 9th and you could be the lucky recipient of a free advertisement for your shop in SURFER, SURFING, SNOWBOARDER or SKATEBOARDER. There’s no catch. Get your registration for the Marketing & Brand Management Course or Store Design & Operations Course at ASR Marketplace or Sales Course and Trends & Marketing at Surf Expo faxed or emailed into the BRA office by this Friday and your shop will be entered into a random drawing where one lucky store will win a free advertisement in the ASG action sports magazine of your choice.

REGISTER TODAY

ASR Marketplace Survival of the Fittest – August 12th, 2010

Course I – Marketing & Brand Management

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables on branding and marketing, community centric retailing, customer service strategies, digital media and media management, special events and advertising tips and techniques.

Course II – Store Design & Operations

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables focused on visual merchandising, retail design, store environment, fixtures, rental shop efficiency, real estate and lease negotiations.

Surf Expo Survival of the Fittest – September 9th, 2010

Course I – Sales with Bob Negen of WhizBang! Training

Bob Negren of WhizBang! Training is confirmed to lead a full-day seminar on hiring and training staff, increasing sales, marketing to customers, increasing foot traffic and boosting average sales.

Course II – Trends & Forecasting

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables focused on benchmarking budgets, retail earnings, simplified accounting, navigating the economy and capitalizing on trends.

The Survival of the Fittest utilizes interactive seminars, presentations, workshops and roundtables designed to encourage dialogue, education, interaction and involvement among all sectors of the retail industry. Retailers are encouraged to take advantage of the trip to ASR Marketplace and Surf Expo by attending one of the courses being offered in the Survival of the Fittest – A BRA Retail Certification Program.

Shops that have already registered for Survival of the Fittest, will automatically be included in the random drawing to be held Friday, July 2nd. Click here to register.

*Both the Marketing & Brand Management and Store Design & Operations courses will run simultaneously from 10:00 – 5:00 on August 12, 2010 in San Diego, California. Registrants must choose one course for the day in order to receive certification.

*Both the Sales and Trends & Forecasting courses will run simultaneously from 10:00 – 5:00 on September 9, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. Registrants must choose one course for the day in order to receive certification.

*In May, BRA and ASG announced a partnership to provide core action sport retailers an opportunity to win a monthly advertisement in SURFER, SURFING, SNOWBOARDER or SKATEBOARDER, as well as a four week online campaign, promoting a specialty retail shop. Each month, BRA and ASG will announce the criteria for eligibility and the chance to win this free advertising opportunity. Contests will vary month to month and this is the first of twelve monthly advertisements available. Thanks to our partners at ASG for generously donating this marketing opportunity!

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As printed in WEBER PERFORMANCE Newsletter on June 27.

Poor Economy Creates New Opportunity

by Shea Weber

The last 18 months have been brutal. . . .Not just for Dewey Weber Surfboards, but for most businesses in general. The domestic ‘surfboard’ industry was hit especially hard because prior to the sliding economy, we saw a dip in sales due to the amount of surfboards being imported from overseas. I have run our business for 16 years and we were built on a wholesale driven business model (selling product to surf shops). We did a little business through our Weber Factory Showroom & our www.deweyweber.com e-commerce site, but the bulk of our business was selling to surf shops.  In 2008, we saw a dip in our domestic wholesale business because of imports and in 2009, we saw our domestic wholesale business almost completely dry up because of the economy.  As we faced certain challenges, it occurred to me that things were changing and that we need to make some changes also.  The idea of selling to surf shops was becoming an obsolete business model because most surf shops are not in the surfboard business.  They are clothing stores that carry surfboards because they feel they have to.  I’m not knocking the current retail model, just realizing it can’t be what we bank our future on.

Then I had an epiphany. . . .Why were we putting our future in the hands of other surf shops?  Why were we leaving it up to them to stock and sell our products?  And why were we investing so much energy into selling to surf shops when they were not that focused on representing or selling our product properly? The fact is that we have a very loyal following and we’ve had it dating back to when my dad and mom ran the business in the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s.  I have heard so many wonderful ‘Dewey’ stories and ‘Performer’ stories that I am truly inspired.  We have had so many wonderful customer’s shop with us directly through the last 50 years and this is what I choose to build our future on. Why not try to service more of our loyal customer’s directly?  Isn’t this the age of the Internet?  Companies outside our industry are doing it in a very real and powerful way, so why not Dewey Weber?  So this is the direction we will forge.  We will nurture & grow our brand through the people that truly support it. . . .our customers and friends.  If we are lucky enough to have a few retail partners that can sell our product the way it should be sold and service our customers the way they deserve to be treated, then that is a bonus.

As we move forward with this new business model, you can look for things like regular digital newsletters, new product offerings, a new and robust web-site, a direct mail order catalog, and a new Dewey Weber retail store in San Clemente.  It is our goal to create a specific retail environment (web/catalog/store) that not only services our loyal Weber customers, but also creates a salvation for all of the 35+ surf enthusiast that is being ignored by the current surf shop model of today.  Customer service and education will be at the forefront of what we do with monthly seminar’s on board design, construction, fins, SUP’s, and many other topics.  We will be able to house these seminar’s on our web-site so anyone can access them anytime anywhere.

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By July 1, 2010, Visa^® mandates that retailers must use a payment application that adheres to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council’s (PCI SSC’s) Payment Application Data Security Standard (PA-DSS), formerly known as Visa’s Payment Application Best Practices (PABP).

This is the fifth and final phase of a three-year-long endeavor that began on January 1, 2008, when Visa implemented compliance mandates. These mandates are designed to eliminate the use of non-secure payment applications that store prohibited data elements from Visa’s payment system.

This phase of the Visa mandates requires your payment application to comply with the PA-DSS requirements, derived from PCI PA-DSS Requirements and Security Assessment Procedures. An application that is PA-DSS compliant meets the following requirements:

1. Does not retain full magnetic stripe, card verification code or value (CAV2, CID, CVC2, CVV2) or PIN block data.
2. Protects stored cardholder data.
3. Provides secure authentication features.
4. Logs payment application activity.
5. Develops secure payment applications.
6. Protects wireless transmissions.
7. Tests payment applications to address vulnerabilities.
8. Facilitates secure network implementation.
9. Never stores cardholder data on a server connected to the Internet.
10. Facilitates secure remote software updates.
11. Facilitates secure remote access to payment application.
12. Encrypts sensitive traffic over public networks.
13. Encrypts all non-console administrative access.
14. Maintains instructional documentation and training programs for customers, resellers and integrators.

Follow these best practice tips to ensure your business, including your software or payment application, is compliant:

• Discuss compliance with your software or payment application vendor, and let the vendor know that compliance is important to you.
• Determine the full name and version number of your software/application, then review the approved List of Validated Payment Applications at pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/vpa/vpa_approval_list.html to verify compliance of your software/application and version.
• Meet all PCI DSS requirements, and validate your compliance by completing the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and passing network vulnerability scans.
• Complete the PCI DSS SAQ to identify any vulnerability using a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA)* to help with your PCI SAQ.
• Complete a network vulnerability scan if you have an external-facing IP address by working with an Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV)* listed on the PCI Security Standards Council’s website, PCISecurityStandards.org, under “QSA/ASV.”
• Complete additional system reviews as needed.
• Consult your payments processor for help in ensuring your business is PCI compliant.

There are also a variety of educational resources at your disposal:

• For more information about PCI compliance, visit HeartlandPaymentSystems.com/PCICompliance.
• Full information about PCI and the necessary forms are available on the PCI Security Standards Council website, PCISecurityStandards.org.
• View a list of PA-DSS-validated applications at PCISecurityStandards.org/security_standards/vpa/ and PABP-validated applications at Visa.com/PABP.

Questions?
Contact Heartland Payment Systems — our association’s exclusive endorsed provider of card processing — at 866.941.1HPS (1477).

Heartland is at the forefront of payment card security with its E3™ end-to-end encryption solution. E3 safeguards data — and when combined with Heartland’s Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) assistance services — reduces the cost of PCI compliance and the risk of non-compliance for business owners. To learn more, visit E3secure.com.

*403 Labs, an industry-approved QSA and ASV, is Heartland’s recommended provider for merchant SAQ and network vulnerability scanning services. Visit 403labs.com for more information on how to get started on PCI DSS validation.

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Since the inception of the partnership in 2008 between the Board Retailers Association (BRA) and Board-Trac, the industry’s marketing and research resource, nine quarterly reports focused on specialty retail sales in the action sport market have been published. Each quarter, BRA’s retail members respond to questions related to sales revenues, margins, category and brand comparisons, vendor support, their views on trade shows and much more.

Board-Trac compiles the data into a 35 + page report each quarter and makes the reports available to the industry for $250 each.  Click here for more information or to purchase reports now.

BRA has found our partnership with Board-Trac to be invaluable, and the data even more valuable. The quarterly reports have not only given us a light during tough economic times, but have given courage and encouragement to our members in an unprecedented tumultuous environment.

Take advantage of the sales information available and a special discounted rate on an annual subscription. Order all four quarterly reports in 2010 for $500. A savings of $500.

To find out more about what retailers have to say about product categories, the brands that drive their business, product mix and other relevant issues regarding retailing in action sports, visit http://bit.ly/SpecialtyRetailReports.

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BRA’s Retail Certification Program

Registration is now open for Survival of the Fittest – BRA’s Retail Certification Program, taking place one day prior to the opening of the ASR Marketplace, Class and Sacred Craft tradeshows on August 12th and the Surf Expo tradeshow on September 9th. Retailers are encouraged to take advantage of the trip to the trade shows by attending a full-day of certified retail education focused on current market issues facing specialty retailers. The primary purpose of the Survival of the Fittest is to educate retailers and provide the tools necessary to continue to survive the market and increase profitability. The Survival of the Fittest is an eight track program with two tracks running simultaneously at each show:

ASR Marketplace Survival of the Fittest – August 12th, 2010

Course I – Marketing & Brand Management

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables on branding and marketing, community centric retailing, customer service strategies, digital media and media management, special events and advertising tips and techniques.

Course II – Store Design & Operations

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables focused on visual merchandising, retail design, store environment, fixtures, rental shop efficiency, real estate and lease negotiations.

Surf Expo Survival of the Fittest – September 9th, 2010

Course I – Sales with Bob Negen of WhizBang! Training

Bob Negren of WhizBang! Training is confirmed to lead a full-day seminar on hiring and training staff, increasing sales, marketing to customers, increasing foot traffic and boosting average sales.

Course II – Trends & Forecasting

Includes seminars, presentations and roundtables focused on benchmarking budgets, retail earnings, simplified accounting, navigating the economy and capitalizing on trends.

The Survival of the Fittest utilizes interactive seminars, presentations, workshops and roundtables designed to encourage dialogue, education, interaction and involvement among all sectors of the industry. Make the most of your visit to Surf Expo and ASR Marketplace by registering for the Survival of the Fittest - the preeminent educational and networking opportunity for show attendees.

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Congratulations to Bob and Ron at Jack’s Surf Shop on their team’s victory at the West Coast Regional Championship of the Oakley Surf Shop Challenge. Congrats also to participating retailers and BRA Members: Huntington Surf & Sport, Laguna Surf & Sport, Frog House Surf Shop, SurfSide Sports, Katin Surf Shop and Spyder Surfboards.

For photos, video footage, results, and more check out SurfShopChallenge.com.

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Based on forecasts developed in January 2010, at the end of Q1, 31.1% of the specialty retailers that participated in the Board-Trac/BRA Specialty Retail Quarterly Survey exceeded their forecasts; 29.5% were on plan and 39.4% were under forecast.  While this may not sound terrific to some, it is.  Answering the same question asked one year ago, only 14.5% of the retailers had exceeded forecast and 61% were under forecast, a 35.4% positive change.

While expected, Q1 2010 sales compared to the previous quarter, Q4 2009 decreased.  This is a cyclical pattern that has been consistent following the holidays.  However, while sales were down, the majority retailers reported that margins were up.  Thirty-eight percent (38%) of the specialty reported an increase in margins from in Q1 over Q4 09; 27.5% reported a decrease in margins.  This is significant in two ways.  Fewer retailers reported a decrease in margin compared to Q4/Q3 09 and it is significant difference from the 46.4% of the specialty retailers that reported a decrease in margins from Q4 08 to Q1 09.

There are many product categories for specialty retailers to consider when thinking about products to carry.  According to the survey, retailers continue to see skateboard hardgoods and footwear as two of the most important categories for their business.  They also added surf apparel as a third, important category.

To find out more of retailers have to say about product categories, the brands that drive their business, product mix and other relevant issues regarding retailing in action sports, visit http://bit.ly/SpecialtyRetailReports

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The Board Retailers Association (BRA) and Board-Trac have released the Specialty Retailer Survey for the First Quarter of 2010. The survey includes information reported by 239 surf, skate and snowboarding shops from across the country. Details within the report include: sales and margin trends/comparisons, sales drivers, 2010 business outlook, top selling brands listed by company and category, number of brands carried, percentage of square footage for specific categories and other brand oriented information.

For retailers that participated in the survey and for BRA Members, the survey report is available at www.boardretailers.org when you log into the Members Only section. For any questions or to order the report, contact Angelo Ponzi at angelo@board-trac.com.

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After scalping his second career ASP World Title, Rip Curl teamed up with Mick Fanning to unveil a limited signature edition of The Ultimate Boardshort on the market- The Mirage Fanning Boardshort. Slated for an early release, only to our Premium Mirage Retail Partners, the Mirage Fanning Boardshort will boast Elastostretch 3 (ES3) Fabric, welded seams, STL Stitchless technology, as well as the other range of features that live up to the street cred the MIRAGE has generated.

“We’re really excited to have a limited early release with Mick’s Mirage boardshort,” commented Rip Curl’s Executive Vice President, Rick Petri. “We’ve taken Mick’s signature boardshort pattern and given it a more stealth feel. For the first time, we have the Ultimate boardshort paired with the the Ultimate athlete, 2009 ASP World Champ Mick Fanning.”

The Mirage Fanning Boardshort can be found at the following Mirage Premium Retail Dealers:

West Coast/Hawaii
Barnfields – Haleiwa, HI
Beach House – Santa Barbara, CA
Hanalei Surf – Hanalei HI
Hansen’s – Encinitas, CA
HIC – Honolulu, HI
South Coast – San Diego, CA
Spyder PCH – Hermosa Beach, CA
Spyder Pier – Hermosa Beach, CA
Surf and Sea – Haleiwa, HI
Surf Concepts – Manhattan Beach, CA
Surfride – Oceanside, CA + Solana Beach, CA
Surfside Sports – Costa Mesa, CA

East Coast/Caribbean
Atlantic Beach SS – Atlantic Beach, NJ
BC Surf & Sport – Fort Lauderdale, Fl
Blonde Johns – Gulf shores, AL
Brave New World – Point Pleasant Beach, NJ
Farias – Ship Bottom, NJ
Heritage Surf Shop – Ocean City, NY
Heritage Surf Shop – Margate, NJ
Heritage Surf Shop – Sea Isle City, NJ
Inland Ocean – Altamonte Springs, FL
Inlet Outlet – Manasquan, NJ
Innerlight – Pensacola, FL
Island Water Sports – Deerfield Beach, FL
K-Coast Surf Shop – Ocean City, MD
Liquid – Rehoboth Beach, DE
Maui Nix – Daytona Beach, FL
McKevlins – Folly Bch, SC
OBBC – Nags Head, NC
Real watersports – Rodanthe, NC
Ron Jon Surf Shop – Cocoa Beach, FL
Ron Jon Surf Shop – Ft Lauderdale, FL
Sea Level – Long Beach, NY
Surf & Skate – Jacksonville Beach, FL
Surf City North – Wrightsville Beach, NC
Surfers Supplies – Ocean City, NJ
Wallerbears – Myrtle Beach, SC
Wallerbears – Charlotte, NC
WRV – Virginia Beach, CA

For more information, check out www.ripcurl.com/mirage

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