Rapala as an investment

[LaMa]

This year, Rapala’s visibility on Amazon seems to have improved.

Rapala is classified on the site with a “top brand” rating. Additionally, over the last 3 months, more than 50,000 orders containing Rapala products have moved through Amazon. According to Amazon’s data, Rapala’s orders have also had lower-than-average return rates.

Images filtered by the most popular products.

When sorting by the highest-selling items, the products also have fairly high unit prices by Rapala’s standards → when popularity is measured in order volumes, this is a good sign.

Also, the new Claptail lure is the best-selling new topwater lure on Amazon.

Below is some data for Sufix and Storm; I did not find the Top Brand mention in connection with VMC or 13 Fishing products.

Link to Rapala’s Amazon pages using the search term Rapala

https://www.amazon.com/sk=rapala&crid=2AKPVT1FJ6VXL&sprefix=rapa%2Caps%2C230&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

[LaMa]

An update on browsing Academy regarding Rapala and especially CrushCity

At Academy Sports and Outdoors, the most popular Rapala products are practically either CrushCity, Storm soft baits, or Sufix lines. The Claptail from Rapala’s products has also made it onto the list.

Demand for CrushCity is strong; when the Fishing baits and lures section is sorted by top sellers, the 4.25-inch Freeloader is ranked 8th, Bronco Bug 18th, Mayor 22nd, and Mooch Minnow 25th. There are a total of 2,143 products in this section.

Link: Access to this page has been denied.

Availability has also been good. Academy’s online shopping cart allows adding up to 999 items. The 4.25-inch Freeloader is sold in 20 colors, of which 18/20 colors have 999+ units available online. The Bronco Bug comes in 6 colors, with 4/6 having 999+ units available. The 3.5-4 inch Mayor is available in 15 colors, with 6/15 having 999+ units online. The Mooch Minnow is available in 10 colors, with 9/10 having 999+ units available. In addition to these, several different sizes have been introduced to the collection; for example, two additional sizes for the Mooch Minnow and Freeloader were brought to market late last year, tripling the size selection. Besides the online store, CrushCity is widely available in most Academy physical locations.

Rapala also appears well-prepared for continuous demand. On their website, for instance, all colors in all size categories for the Freeloader and Mooch Minnow were available. For the Mayor, all colors in the 3.5-inch size were available. Rapala’s online store allows adding up to 10,000 items to the cart. For the Freeloader, 6/20 colors had over 10,000 units available online.

Overall, it seems that in the third year since launch, CrushCity volumes have grown even further, and on Rapala’s part, it feels that they have prepared well for the demand.

[LaMa]

USA’s March Imports data is now available. Figures are in millions of euros, with the 2026 figure first and the 2025 figure in parentheses. China’s relative share is approximately 56%; compared to the previous year, the decrease in relative share is less significant when March figures are included. Figures in millions of euros.

China up to March 142.5 (164.3)

Estonia up to March 5.03 (6.1)

France up to March 1.65 (0.81)

Taiwan up to March 6.9 (7.7)

Indonesia up to March 2.0 (2.3)

Total 253 Meur (265 Meur)

China’s share 56.3% (62%)

Source

DataWeb

[LaMa]

At the risk of this starting to look like spamming, here is one more post about Sufix.

In the post above, the search data related to Sufix appears strong now in 2024. When taking a closer look at the search data for the last 90 days, searches in April stand out strongly, and within the most popular and rising searches, the Sufix 832 product line is particularly highlighted.

I searched for the most popular Sufix product on the websites of Academy and Bass Pro Shops.

At Bass Pro: https://www.basspro.com/p/sufix-832-advanced-superline-braid-fishing-line-300-yard-spool

Below is a listing of stock levels by color for the product. Additionally, for the most popular Lo-Vis green color in the 20 lbs strength, I checked availability in brick-and-mortar stores. In a sample of 28/30 stores, the product was either “in stock” or “limited stock”. The stores were from different parts of the USA: Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Houston, California, and New York.

The retail price is 34 USD; the value is estimated at a Rapala selling price of 20 USD.

The most popular on Academy’s online store: Sufix 832 Advanced Superline 300 yards Braided Fishing Line | Academy

There, that product only has the Lo-Vis green color; it was available in the online store in 5/7 strengths at 999+ pieces and 65-80 lbs strength at 860 pieces, meaning a minimum value of about 118 thousand USD. Additionally, I took Houston stores as a sample for Academy, as the chain has a strong presence there. 15 lbs was “in stock” in 30/31 stores and 80 lbs in 21/30 stores.

On Rapala’s own online store: https://www.rapala.com/us_en/832-advanced-superline

I took the two most popular sizes: the 150-yard line and the 300-yard line. Below is the availability status of Rapala’s USA online store. The maximum amount that can be added to the shopping cart is 10,000 pcs, so all those 10,000 balances are some figure greater than 10,000. These are all valued at that maximum amount. The balance is always rounded down to the nearest thousand that is still available, i.e., all balances under 1,000 are 0.

The retail price of the inventory for these two sizes alone is at least 2.4 million USD. It is also positive that the stock levels are heavily concentrated in the most popular colors and sizes. Their availability is still good, even though popularity has also grown according to the search data.

In my opinion, several signals point in a positive direction: the general popularity of braided line has increased, Sufix’s own search data is strong, retailers still have deep stocks of Sufix and they have been heavily stocked in brick-and-mortar stores for the season, and Rapala’s own availability is still good and prepared for continuous demand regarding the most popular products.

//edit. Adding the stock from retailer Scheels

There, too, several products in the online store show 999+; especially for the most popular color, 999+ could well be significantly higher, as practically everything shows that.

Availability in brick-and-mortar stores for 8lb and 20 lb lines in Ghost, Neon Lime, and Lo Vis Green was 32/34 stores. For yellow 8lb, it was 12/34 stores and 10lb 10/34 stores. Thus, the most popular colors are strongly represented in physical stores.

At Rapala, about 1/2 of the products are produced by third parties; Sufix is one of them. CrushCity is another. In these cases, it’s good to note that delivery times from the factory to retailers are significantly shorter than, for example, for hard-body lures, so demand can be reacted to more quickly. It is also interesting to look at the previous message regarding deliveries from France to the USA vs. the previous season. VMC in France is one of the largest suppliers, and the total export volume from France has practically doubled.

In third-party products, one’s own financial constraints are also less relevant, so capacity can increase much faster than with hard-body lures.

[Haukiparoni]

This isn’t crossing into spam territory. Thanks to LaMa for taking the time to dig these things up for everyone to see and speculate on these are a pleasure to read. I also enjoy digging for similar info myself, but life gets so hectic sometimes that I don’t have the time to go quite this deep. I actually look forward to it every time I see a new message from LaMa.. Next Wednesday will be an interesting day; I personally have a feeling that we might see some decent numbers. Hopefully, being a passionate fishing enthusiast hasn’t clouded my judgment regarding the figures of this investment case.. I am aware of the risks and stumbling blocks here, but I also see huge opportunities. And Rapala’s new products really are good! Apologies for this long message that didn’t have much substance.. the main point was just to give kudos to LaMa

[LaMa]

Thanks, glad to hear that the posts have been found useful!

I also have expectations for the Q1 report; specifically, mentions regarding demand after the quarter are of interest. In a way, it’s exciting again, because if things went really well, the guidance would likely be raised. However, it’s possible that this would only be done in connection with the report if such a situation arises.

Regarding new products, the Claptail also seems well-received. In addition to being the #1 lure in its category on Amazon, Scheels and Bass Pro have taken a lot into stock this year, and Academy has taken a lot into their online store.

Below is the availability for the Claptail in these online stores. Additionally, I took the “Broken bone” color as a sample: at Scheels, it’s available in 29/34 stores, and in the Bass Pro sample, 24/30 stores. At Academy in Houston, only 3/31 stores, so it might not be as widely available in brick-and-mortar stores there. The margin on this product is also likely good. The price is about double compared to a “basic lure” from Rapala.

Regarding Europe, I’m interested in what measures have been taken to cut costs and whether the contraction in net sales might possibly stop.

Of course, the customs duty refunds are one potential added bonus still. It feels like due to the uncertainty, they aren’t really priced into the share price yet, which is quite logical.

[Sijoittaja-alokas]

Here are Thomas’s pre-release comments as Rapala reports its Q1 results on Wednesday, May 13.

We expect the company’s revenue to have grown by roughly a few percent in the early part of the year, with operating profit increasing by just under 10%. Rapala is publishing an abbreviated Q1 business review for the first time, which is why direct comparative figures are not available. We estimate that revenue has been distributed fairly evenly between Q1 and Q2 in line with historical trends, so too much weight should not be given to a single quarter.

Rapala VMC Q1'26 -ennakko: Pohjois-Amerikka ja kulukuri siivittänevät...

[LaMa]

Good preview, though I would slightly challenge the year-end outlook for reels and rods. Inflation is having a negative impact, but the removal of aluminum tariffs on April 6, 2026, will have a significantly larger impact on the cost base for reels in the USA than inflation. Aluminum tariffs took effect on March 12, 2025, at a rate of 25% and rose to 50% on June 4, 2025. That entire percentage was added to factory prices on top of the so-called normal tariffs. 13 Fishing’s market position is particularly strong in the USA (the brand originally being from the USA) compared to the rest of the world.