Prince O3 White Is Top Selling Racquet For 2006
Prince Ends Year With Four of the Top 10 Best Selling Racquets and No. 2 Position in Footwear CategoryFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Zach Perles
One Advantage Court
Bordentown,
609-291-5932
zperles@princesports.com
02/05/07 - Bordentown, NJ - The Prince O3 White is the best selling tennis racquet of 2006, according to the Q4 Sports Marketing Surveys/Tennis Industry Association Specialty Store Retail Audit. The O3 White, which is played by world No. 1 Maria Sharapova, and is the favorite among a number of other top touring pros, enjoyed its second straight quarter as the industry’s top selling racquet, ending the year in the top spot.
In addition to the O3 White at No. 1, Prince O3 racquets hold four of the top 10 and six of the top 15 Best Seller positions, ranked by year-to-date dollar sales. The racquets include the O3 White, O3 Blue (No. 4), O3 Silver (No. 5), O3 Red (No. 9), O3 Hybrid Hornet OS (No. 11), and O3 Hybrid Hornet MP (No. 12).
Prince O3 racquets (O3 White, O3 Hybrid Hornet, O3 Tour, O3 Blue and O3 Silver) also hold positions in five of the top ten spots in the combined head size category ranked by year-to-date dollar sales.
“O3 has received tremendous response from players at all levels - touring pros and recreational alike,” said Doug Fonte, president Prince U.S. “With a 56 percent conversion rate among ATP and WTA professionals, O3 Technology has won more than 165 professional tournaments including seven Grand Slams. In only two short years, O3 has become a mainstay on courts around the world and it is clear that players want O3 Technology in their hands.”
Nearly 100 touring pros, including world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko, play O3 racquets and almost every one of those players has improved his or her ranking since making the switch. To date, there are more than twenty top 100 ATP and WTA pros using O3 on tour and most recently, O3 enjoyed success Down Under with four of the 16 singles players in the Australian Open Women’s Round of 16 playing O3 racquets.
“We are very encouraged by the fourth quarter and year-end results and we look forward to continuing our success with O3 in 2007 with the introduction of Speedport,” said Fonte.
Prince Footwear Ends Year as Industry’s No. 2 Footwear Brand
In the footwear category, Prince increased Q4 share and ended 2006 as the No. 2 brand in the footwear category holding a 19 percent unit share in year-to-date sales. In addition, Prince continues to lead the $75.00-$84.99 price point with 24.4 percent of unit sales. Both the T10 and the T9 Roadster hold two positions in the top 10 in both the Men’s (No. 3 and No. 6) and Women’s (No. 4 and No. 10) categories.
In August, 2006 Prince introduced its new line of M Series footwear to specialty retail shelves nationwide, allowing players to choose among unique shoe attributes that best fit their needs. Made with Precision Tubes in the heel and forefoot, M Series gives players ideal cushioning, ventilation and stability.
“Whether it is racquets, shoes, apparel, or string, we remain completely dedicated to developing and innovating products that will provide players, regardless of their skill, the best opportunity to increase the level of their game and enjoyment on the court,” said Fonte.
The data presented here is based on a retail audit of key pro/specialty and sporting goods stores conducted by Sports Marketing Surveys.
About Prince Sports
Prince Sports, Inc., based in New Jersey, is a recognized leader in game-improvement technologies and engineering-based high-performance sports equipment. Since 1970, Prince and Ektelon have revolutionized tennis, squash and racquetball with innovations including “Oversize,” “Longbody” and “Extender” racquet technologies, Natural Foot Shape footwear technology, Synthetic Gut String and Electronic Ball Machines. Prince gives players speed, stability and a larger sweet spot with O3 racquet technology, building the brand with O3 Original Series (2005), O3 Hybrid (2006) and O3 Speedport (2007). In 2006, Prince introduced M Series footwear with Precision Tube Technology, an innovation that gives players maximum cushioning, stability and ventilation. Prince Sports has operations on three continents and distribution in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.princetennis.com.
Links:
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