The already big Ispo Munich fair that ended one week ago welcomed more visitors than ever before in the history of the sporting goods trade show. Its continued progress seemed to reflect the growing importance of the fair as a global meeting place for the industry. It probably reflected also the need for overcautious European retailers to replenish their inventories in the midst of a better-than-expected winter selling season, and their desire to find new, distinctive products.
As reported in the last issue of SGI Europe, a survey conducted by us ahead of the show indicated generally higher expectations for new orders of autumn/winter merchandise than one year ago. Interestingly, looking more closely at the results of our survey, retailers were much more positive than producers, brand owners, distributors and agents about the level of their sales during the current autumn/winter season. Higher sales of apparel than one year ago were reported by 40 percent of the retailers who responded to our survey, and even higher ratios of 44 and 52 percent came out for sports shoes and sports equipment, respectively.
However, one of the respondents complained that too many brands are offering the same things and over-producing them. Another one said that the shops are much more careful than before about what they buy. Others indicated continued strength in some categories such as compression garments, basketball and bicycles, but one felt that the running boom may be coming to an end in the more developed markets. According to one of the participants, sporting goods are experiencing a positive curve against many odds, the market is still far from saturation, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.
Interviews with various exhibitors confirmed the general positive trend, especially in the broad ski sector, which continues to be well represented at Ispo. Leading ski manufacturers estimated that total deliveries to the trade fell by between 10 and 20 percent in 2012, both in volume and value, and they all agreed that retailers' inventories are low, paving the way for increased deliveries this year. Recovering from a major streamlining process, one notable exception was apparently the Rossignol Group, which announced at a press conference during a ministerial visit just before Ispo that its sales should go up by up by 5 percent for the financial year ending next March 31. The reintegration of its textiles operations was probably one of the growth factors.
Messe München counted a total of 81,000 daily visits at Ispo Munich, which implies an increase of 4 percent as compared to last year, and 66 percent of the visitors came from outside Germany. The highest attendance levels among foreign visitors were recorded from Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France and the U.K. The highest increases came from Europe and Asia. It was a good sign that Spain, one of the crisis-shaken European countries, made it back into the top ten foreign delegations.
There was also a significant 5.8 percent increase in the number of exhibitors to a total of 2,481. The number of countries that they represented at the show improved by one to 52. They occupied 430 more square meters than one year ago, for a total net exhibition space of 103,220 m².
Ispo Munich featured a strong program of conferences and other side events, starting with the World Sports Forum organized by the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) on the eve of the fair. Prominent speakers called for the sports industry to get yet more involved in the fight against physical inactivity. They noted that this issue is affecting the health and wellbeing of millions of people: It has reached such proportions that children growing up today are expected to live five years less than their parents.
Movements to stimulate physical activity are sprouting up around the world – often involving sporting goods companies, as described by speakers from Nike and New Balance. The audience heard that the sporting goods industry broadly supports a new target set by member states of the World Health Organization in January to reduce inactivity by 10 percent by 2025 (more on this later).
At the Ispo Health Forum on Tuesday, Robbert de Kock, secretary general of WFSGI, called for a fusion of efforts by the health and sports industries, with the help of the European Union and national governments, to prevent heart failure and other non-communicable diseases by promoting increased sports participation. Klaus Jost, president of Intersport International Corporation, pointed out that the German government is spending only €200 million a year to prevent diseases for people above the age of 65 years and €26.3 billion to cure them when they get sick. Frank Dassler, president of the European Sporting Goods Industry Federation (Fesi), noted that the sporting goods industry would sell 50 percent more products if the rate of sports participation would grow from 61 percent to 100 percent in the EU.
Selected guests were invited at a gala dinner where Felix Baumgartner was awarded this year's Ispo Cup for his parachuting exploits. After setting many world records, the 43-year-old Austrian skydiver became a global celebrity with a 39,000-meter jump at the speed of sound from the Red Bull Stratos capsule last Oct. 14. Shoes can be critical when you land with a parachute. As Meindl developed the landing shoes for Baumgartner, Lukas Meindl held the “laudation” speech.
A survey conducted at the fair showed 74 percent of the visitors rating it as excellent to very good, and another 24 percent as good. Furthermore, 45 percent felt that Ispo Munich will continue to gain in importance, while 50 percent thought that it will maintain its high level of importance. The next Ispo Munich will be held on Jan. 26-29, 2014.
