Analysis: Big swings in the European sports retailers’ market shares

The overall consumption of sporting goods accelerated in Western Europe in 2019, posting increases of 4.0 percent in euros and 3.6 percent in local currencies, according to an annual study by SGI Europe. This can be compared with the increases of 2.7 percent and 1.6 percent, respetively, that we had calculated for 2018. They were already an improvement on the 2017 figures. However, based on the figures and estimates at our disposal, the development of the market was different from one country to another, and some retailers performed better than others, as shown in the charts with this article.

We must admit from the outset that it has become increasingly difficult for us to determine the size and growth or decline of each national market in the absence of reliable and homogeneous figures. Except for markets like Norway, where the market would have declined without including them, some of our sources are excluding generalist e-tailers like Amazon or Zalando, which are becoming a more important factor in our sector, as well as the brands’ own growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) operations. As a result, the growth of the European market was probably higher than 4 percent last year.

For some of the smaller countries – such as Belgium, Portugal and Ireland – our figures are only estimates. The data provided here for the five major European markets have been inspired by the estimates of NPD, which uses consumer panels for softgoods, but we have changed some of its data because its global study of the market includes bicycles. We continue to try to ignore bicycles primarily used for urban mobility from our estimates, and as cycling was a growing segment last year, the market definitely rose at higher rates if we had included them.

Adding a shot of pure e-commerce, a shot of DTC and urban bicycles, the sports market in the 15 countries analyzed by us probably grew at a rate close to 5 percent and reached a level of more than €60 billion before VAT, rather than €53.6 billion. At the global level, the consumption of sports shoes and apparel rose by only 4 percent last year, according to NPD, but the total market went up by 5 percent to $498 billion thanks to a 9 percent increase in the consumption of bicycles.

Looking at the individual retailers, the world’s largest one, Decathlon, grew strongly in relatively new markets for the banner such as Germany and Switzerland, as well as in the Netherlands, where it remains the only major integrated sports retail chain. Its growth was softer in more mature markets like France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, where it kept its Number One position.

For some other best performers, the growth was partly due to acquisitions. We only have estimates for the Signa Retail Group’s development in Germany. After its investments in sports e-tailing through Signa Sports United and its acquisition of Karstadt and Kaufhof, last year it gobbled up a major local player, SportScheck.

JD Sports Fashion has been another rising star outside its home market in the U.K., where it gained some market share from Sports Direct last year. The new Iberian Sports Retail Group, formed through the merger of JD Sports with Sprinter and Sport Zone, became the Number Two player in Spain, overtaking the sporting goods retail operations of the nation’s biggest department store chain, El Corte Inglés. It grew almost as strongly as Decathlon in Portugal, no doubt contributing to the ongoing expansion of the local market.

Another major player, Intersport, performed better in France, Spain and Belgium than in other countries. Its Dutch licensee, Euretco, suffered from the loss of a big retail member, Daka Sport, which switched over to Sport 2000, boosting the latter’s retail turnover. The SGN Group, which is the Swedish member of Sport 2000 via Team Sportia, benefited from the takeover of Sportringen.

A similar process has been taking place in Denmark, where many Intersport affiliates have gone over to Sport24, a young and growing chain that is making a difference in the market and is now planning to move abroad via the internet.

After strong growth in previous years with its Big Box format, XXL suffered sales declines in each of its major markets except in Finland. More recent figures indicate that it had a big rebound this year following a repositioning of the banner under new ownership. However, it will have to deal with a bigger player in Norway following the recently approved merger of Sport 1 with Gresvig, the former owner of G Sport and licensee of Intersport in the country.

Our charts for 2019 include new entries such as Decathlon for the U.K. and Switzerland. We have eliminated Life Style Sports in Ireland in the absence of any figures or estimates for the past year, but we hope to win it back. We have eliminated Runners Point in Germany following the chain’s phase-out by its U.S.-based owner, Foot Locker, which is also a major factor in many European countries. Unfortunately, its national scores remain a closely guarded secret.

On the other hand, we have updated our estimates for the average per capita consumption of sporting goods in each country and in Western Europe, where it reached a level of €157 last year across the 15 countries. The charts show big disparities from one country to the other, indicating that there is ample room for growth in some of them. Norway remains the leader with per capita consumption of €450, followed by Sweden, Switzerland and Austria. Aside from the buying power of the local population, other factors are cold weather and foreign tourists’ spending, which may take a big hit at the end of this year because of Covid-19.

Below, we prepared interactive charts for you for the countries in the Euro-Zone: