Excluding other types of products in their portfolios, the major suppliers of branded sports hardware saw their global sales increase by only 1.2 percent in terms of U.S. dollars, reaching a level of $73.4 billion, according to an annual survey by Sporting Goods Intelligence. It was a major slowdown from the previously recorded growth rates of 6.4 percent in 2013 and 6.2 percent in 2014, but it was largely due to the appreciation of the dollar that occurred in 2015.
Based on the average exchange rates calculated by the OECD for each year, which we use to compile our annual chart, the value of the U.S. dollar increased last year by 19.2 percent against the euro, by 14.2 percent against the Japanese yen and by 14.6 percent against the yuan renmimbi. Thus, while the sports equipment market rose by 3.4 percent to $33.5 billion at wholesale in the U.S., it fell by 0.6 percent to $39.9 billion in the rest of the world. In local currencies, the market definitely went up outside the U.S.
The global sports equipment market would have fallen by about 0.7 percent in dollars without the strong growth of the two leading suppliers of wearables and action cameras, Fitbit and GoPro. They took sixth and eighth place in our 2015 chart, published on page 3 of this issue. Fitbit came after Shimano, Jarden Corp., Vista Outdoor, Giant and Amer Sports. GoPro came just after the Adidas Group and ahead of Nike.
Our figures cover only the companies’ sales of sports equipment products, to the exclusion of softgoods. They are based on publicly available company reports, input from management or industry estimates. Oakley’s 2014 figures have been restated based on newly available information. Specialized and Technogym are new in the chart. All the figures have been translated into U.S. dollars at the average exchange rate for the year.
As the bicycle market in the U.S. is smaller than in the rest of the world, the appreciation of the dollar caused the global bicycle market to be essentially flat last year in dollars, totaling $7.77 billion based on the combined revenues of Shimano, Giant, Accell Group, Dorel Sports, Specialized and Scott Sports – translated into dollars.
The major golf equipment suppliers are generally stronger in the U.S., but the weakness of their market led them to a 10.6 percent drop in their revenues to $5.21 billion, including the golf sales of generalists like the Adidas Group and Nike. This was compensated by a rebound of the important firearms market in the U.S.
The global fitness market grew by 1.3 percent to $3.06 billion, and it would have risen more if currencies had remained the same. Including firearms, the combined outdoor and ski market (Vista, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Sturm Ruger, Johnson Outdoors, Rapala and Rossignol) went up by 2.5 percent to $5.11 billion.
The strong and promising wearables market has led generalists like Adidas, Amer and Under Armour to invest in the sector and in digital connectivity in general. With the rest of the equipment market being relatively soft, several big players have decided to grow through acquisitions, especially in the growing outdoor and fitness sectors. Takeovers boosted the 2015 figures of a major new player, Vista, which came in third place on our chart, and of old players like Amer, Life Fitness and Performance Sports Group (ex Bauer Hockey). Brunswick will benefit this year from its acquisition of Cybex. More recently, Jarden merged with Newell Rubbermaid.
Click HERE to download the chart.
