EsFitness equipment maker Nautilus reported Q2 revenues that climbed 94% year over year in Q2, beating analysts’ estimates by 54.1% according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The firm noted that it benefited from its “ability to restart and then accelerate our supply chain allowed us to better respond to the heightened demand that began in March when COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders were first put in place“. Nautilus’s CEO, Jim Barr, also noted that the firm improved “the flow of inventory in our supply chain by increasing factory capacity for our leading products by as much as 500%“.
The fitness equipment sector more broadly has done better than other leisure products sectors such as toys, as flagged in Panjiva’s research of Aug. 12, and has seen a similar performance to other COVID-19 beneficiaries such as home appliances and personal computers.
Panjiva’s data shows that U.S. seaborne imports of fitness products climbed 36.5% higher year over year in Q2’20 compared to a year earlier while computers improved by 24.9% and home appliances increased by 7.5%.
The growth likely continued in early Q3 with fitness equipment imports having surged by 82.2% higher in July to reach a record. U.S. seaborne imports linked to Nautilus improved by 12.8% year over year in Q2 but have surged 87.3% higher in July as the firm looks to unwind its unfulfilled orders.
Source: Panjiva
On top of COVID-19, Nautilus has also had to navigate complications caused by the U.S.-China trade war. There’s little sign that existing tariffs will be removed and may remain no matter the outcome of the general elections in November as discussed in Panjiva’s Q3 Outlook.
Shipments from China increased by 77.9% in July and represented 76.0% of the total in the past 12 months. The latter was down from 88.2% in 2017 and was the result of an increase in shipments from South Korea to reach 17.2% of the total in the past 12 months from 7.6% in 2017.
Source: Panjiva
