The two Japanese retailers saw winter sports sales brought down by a warm winter with low snowfall combined with soft golf equipment sales, in their fiscal years that ended Jun. 30 and Aug. 31, respectively, but both also called out outdoor products as showing excellent growth potential. A promotional retail market combined with an increasing share of e-commerce sales to pressure gross margins, sending Alpen into the red for the year, though Himaraya eked out a lower, but positive profit.

At multi-banner retailer Alpen, comprehensive net loss was ¥607 million ($5.5 mm) for the year against income of ¥1,620 million on ... Log in to view full article.