According to GfK, the Swiss sporting goods market ended up being flat in 2020, in spite of Covid-19, thanks to a sales rally in the last two months of the year. There was, however, a significant gap between the different sectors: the overall winners in 2020 were fitness, outdoor, running, stand-up paddling and, in winter, snowshoeing, sledding and cross-country skiing. According to the market research company, the losers included the sports apparel, teamwear and winter sports categories, particularly alpine skiing and snowboarding, including the rental business. For winter sports enthusiasts, the 2020/21 season was particularly bitter, as there was sufficient snow for a long time, but ski resorts were only open to a limited extent or not at all, with little presence from abroad. GfK’s research doesn’t include bicycles, where the market grew by an estimated 40 percent, with 30 percent of the products sold being e-bikes. Due to temporary retail lockdowns, e-commerce grew in general by 50 percent in 2020, and it even doubled in the equipment sector. Every fourth Swiss franc spent to purchase sporting goods products was spent online in 2020. The trend continued in the first quarter of 2021, with online sales of sports products rising by 92 percent from a year earlier. Across all categories it monitors, GfK calculated a significant growth of 42.8 percent in online purchases for the quarter. Office supplies was the only sector to report negative sales.

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