Aldi faces competition in ski gear

German supermarket discounter Aldi will go head to head with French sporting goods store Decathlon.

Karina Marshall snagging a ski bargain at Aldi in Waterloo, Sydney. Picture: Jenny Evans

Two of the world’s biggest retailers, German supermarket discounter Aldi and French sporting goods store Decathlon, will go head to head for the first time in Australia this ski season, with a ski and snow gear sale targeting the hordes of Australians who head to the slopes and spend $400 million a year on clothing and equipment.

Aldi will launch its ski sale on May 18. The chain’s annual ski and snow promotion is so popular that lines form outside stores on the day of the sale and fights have been known to break out in the aisles as shoppers grab heavily ­reduced ski gear. Thanks to the success of the sales Aldi is now Australia’s biggest seller of ski and snow products.

Its growth in the sector has been fast and impressive. In 2004, Aldi shipped just 990 women’s snow jackets to its local stores; last year it shipped 23,000 units of just one type of women’s snow jacket. And Aldi is expecting double-digit growth once more this year for its ski and snow gear sale.

“A ski holiday isn’t the most affordable vacation option, so we’re proud to do what we can to make this experience more affordable for Australian families,’’ Aldi textiles buying director Renata Hay told The Weekend Australian.

“We’ll be shipping more than 10 per cent greater volume of ski products in to our stores this year than last. The demand and ­double-digit growth have continued to surpass population growth and our store growth.”

The growing retail category is worth billions of dollars, and includes not just clothing and hardware but also the money spent at the slopes, accommodation and lift passes. Peak body Snowsports Industries of Australia says snowsport is the 11th most popular sporting activity in Australia, with a participation level of 16 per cent of the population.

The ski and snow gear retail industry is estimated to have annual turnover of more than $400m, while visitors to ski ­resorts in Victoria and NSW ­generate expenditure of almost $2 billion.

To cash in on this, Aldi has ­created a website detailing its ski gear sale, aldiski.com.au, and has again teamed up with ski slopes operator Perisher to hold a ­competition, giving away $30,000 of ski prizes such as ­family snow trips, weekend trips and lift passes.

Joining the fight is Decathlon, a big-box French sports retailing giant that will launch its maiden ski, snow and snowboarding sale on Monday. Decathlon has four stores in Australia but is planning to roll out as many as 100.

The one-stop sports and adventurewear retailer aims to lure ski and snow enthusiasts with its private label ski, snowboarding and hiking brands, Wed’ze and Quechua, which have gained a large following in the global ski community. It also operates a large design outlet and store at the foothills of Mt Blanc near Chamonix in France.

Decathlon is hoping to differentiate itself from Aldi by offering a full array of ski hardware, which traditionally Aldi has not sold.