The Finnish sporting goods market saw its sales dip by 2 percent to nearly €1,094 million including VAT last year, it was estimated by Sporttimyyjä, the country's specialist magazine. The leading sports retailers suffered most, while specialist retailers and discounters lifted their sales.
The sports stores related to the Kesko group in Finland, from Intersport to Kesport and Budget Sport, were hit by a joint sales drop of 4.8 percent for the year, down to €305.1 million.
Sales shrank by 6.6 percent at Sportia and by 12 percent at Top Sport, two other general sports formats. On the other hand, sales of sporting goods increased by an estimated 5.5 percent at Prisma, the supermarket chain. Stadium, the Swedish retailer, enjoyed a sales rise of 33 percent in the year, but this included store openings.
When it comes to suppliers, some of the largest gains went to the L-Fashion group, Adidas, Puma and Peak Performance. Bauer Hockey and Viking were two other growth companies in Finland last year.
On the other hand, Sporttimyyjä pointed to Nike, Halti, Haglöfs and Tunturi as companies that saw their Finnish sales decline last year. Nike's sales slid by about 3.5 percent to €22.4 million in Finland, while Adidas widened the gap with a sales rise of 10 percent to €34 million.
