According to Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS), sales of tennis racquets and strings for the first half of this year rose in all eight of Europe’s major tennis markets: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the U.K. Year-on-year growth in volume (45.3%) outpaced growth in value (40.7%), with the effect of lowering prices on average. Moreover, sales were up by 10 percent in both categories even as compared to 2019.
In the market research agency’s view, the figures are consistent with “other research that suggests that Covid-19 and its associated lockdowns have boosted tennis participation, particularly among beginners.” Of particular note are Spain and Italy, which posted triple-digit growth and, unlike other countries, high sales of balls.
Racquet sales were strong in the U.K., up by 76 percent year-on-year and by 26 percent in value from 2019. Participation in tennis was itself up by 49 percent in the British Isles during the lockdown. That said, ball sales were up by 4 percent from 2020 and down by 11 percent from 2019. The populace seems to be turning to sports that were forbidden during the lockdown.
Ball sales in France tracked similarly, up from 2020 but down from 2019. In the Netherlands they were down against both of the two previous years.
At any rate, concludes SMS, Europe’s supply-chain troubles have not yet affected tennis.
In the U.S., by comparison, as SMS reported in August, racquet sales were up by 40.5 percent in volume and by more than 100 percent in value. In consequence, average values have been growing west of the Atlantic and shrinking east of it.
SMS describes itself as a “sport specialist market research consultancy” with teams in the U.S. and the U.K. and “comprehensive analysis in more than 100 sports.”
Photo: Ben Hershey, Unsplash
