The quarterly Sportindex by Svenskt Sportforum shows that Swedish sports retail sales decreased by 7.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, making it the fourth consecutive quarter with negative development for sports retail. For the full year 2022, sports retail sales development landed at -5.8 percent.
However, the drop in sales should be seen in relation to the exceptionally strong comparative figures. In Q4 of 2021, sports retailers experienced a recovery in brick-and-mortar stores, while e-commerce, which received a significant boost from the pandemic, was still growing steadily. At the same time, the 2021/2022 winter season began with early cold and snow, boosting sales of categories such as alpine, cross-country and jackets. Combined, this helped sports retail grow by more than 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. Conditions were less favorable in the fourth quarter of 2022, characterized by shrinking consumer spending power and concerns about the economy and the external environment. This, combined with less favorable weather conditions, did not create the conditions for equally strong growth in sports retail.
Even looking at the full year 2022, sports retail sales landed in negative territory after experiencing strong growth in 2021. The full-year development was -5.8 percent. Part of the drop can be linked to the troubled economic situation and consumers tightening their purse strings. The fact that the vast majority of the year has not been marked by a pandemic is also a contributing factor. During the pandemic, the sports trade got a big boost as ski holidays in Sweden replaced trips to tropical countries, the outdoors flourished among Swedes and work at home meant that vacancies at padel and tennis halls were scarce. In 2022 and the return to normality, competition for consumers’ time and money has become fiercer. Sports activities and consumption in sports retail have increasingly competed with office work time, foreign travel, cultural events, restaurant dinners and social events.
In Q4 2022, the drop in sales was greater in the retail channel than in e-commerce. E-commerce enjoyed a slight boost with positive growth figures in the period from September to November. It accounted for a larger share of total sales in 2022 than in the pandemic years 2020-2021, indicating that consumers continue to want to shop online even when restrictions and the risk of contagion spread do not constrain them.
Starting this quarter, the Sportindex reports the performance of two new product categories, one of which is racquet sports equipment. This category includes racquets, balls, nets and other equipment for racquet sports such as tennis, badminton and padel. Racquet sports had a 33.8 percent drop in sales in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year.
“Over the last 18-24 months, we have seen a really strong performance of the racquet sports segment, mainly due to the strong padel trend. Now that we are facing very high comparables, we are seeing big drops. The analysis is that the market has saturated a lot and that there are a lot more racquet products being sold by more players,” says Daniel Löfkvist, COO and VP at Stadium Group.
