Head Spain’s revenues rose by 46 percent last year to the record level of €27 million. Racquet sales accounted for some 70 percent of the total, and within that preponderance, pádel outsold tennis three to one. But this has not translated directly into retail sales. According to Head Spain’s business manager for racquet sports, Ricardo Brigolle, who spoke with CMDsport, retailers are currently overstocked with last year’s products. The situation is general for the racquet brands, most of which ratcheted up their manufacturing to meet retailer demand.
Brigolle is therefore asking retailers to be patient. Pádel, he said, remains in a state of expansion, players are still flooding the courts, and it is normal to see a drop-off in winter. On the other hand, he continued, the economic situation is unfavorable to the consumer, and pádel players are feeling the pinch, stretching out the lives of their racquets, balls and sneakers. Business should pick up, though, as spring settles in and the tournaments start up again.
Brigolle believes, however, that there will be a culling of the herd. A great many small pádel brands went into business with the boom, but customers “no longer want them” and are opting instead for established brands. Brigolle does not expect there to be as much consolidation as exists in tennis – where three brands account for 80 percent of sales – but thinks it “foreseeable that only some 20 brands will endure.”
By contrast, the tennis market, already mature, is pursuing slow and steady growth. The current rate at Head Spain is 4 percent year-on-year.
