A survey of 675 Italians between the ages of 15 and 60, made in December 2007, indicates that 66 percent practice some kind of sport, compared with only 59 percent two years earlier. The big growth has taken place among women, whose share has risen from 38 to 50 percent. Fitness, swimming and running are up, while football and skiing are down.
The latest survey, made by GfK and Kunde & Co., also showed that 59 percent of the Italian women visit a sporting goods store at least once a month, spending there on average 4 minutes and looking for competence, for a broad product range and for service. On the other hand, the purchase of sporting goods is made in the sporting goods stores only in 62 percent of the cases, down from 64 percent two years ago, as Italian customers are shifting their purchases to hypermarkets, boutiques, shoe shops, factory outlets and the internet. Among the specialty shops, they prefer Décathlon, the specialists and the single-brand stores more than in the past.
The survey was presented and commented to a packed audience of 170 industry professionals at a convention organized by Assosport and Intersport Italia during the Sportitaly trade show, held in Bolzano on Feb. 10-12. The conference highlighted the need for Italian sporting goods retailers to modernize their stores, to highlight their sports identity and to work more closely with the brands to transmit the emotion of sport in new and more contemporary ways.
In spite of the high quality of the convention and of considerable efforts to get them to come over, the second edition of the Sportitaly fair attracted only about 3,000 visitors during the 3-day show, compared with 3,456 a year ago. The main reason seems to have been the fact that only 150 companies representing 250 brands had decided to exhibit at the fair, down from 171 – a classical chicken & egg situation. The organizers have already committed themselves to holding a third show in 2009. They will check with the companies to determine the most adequate adjustments required to make it work.
Meawhile, Messe Bozen has signed an agreement with Messe München to manage a new show for ski lifts, snow-making and other snow-related facilities, called Alpitec China, to run concurrently with ISPO China in Beijing in 2009. Alpitec is an established fair that takes place in Bolzano every other year. Its 6th session will take place next Apr. 9-11 at the same time as Prowinter, which will place a strong emphasis on ski rentals. It will also feature an international conference in Italian, German and English on the future of winter sports.
