The NPD Group, which has been studying the sporting goods market in the major European countries for the past 10 years, has launched a new service that can help conduct consumer surveys on very specific issues. This new online panel has already allowed the researchers to obtain some interesting findings in the second half of 2007, for example:
-An estimated 61 percent of the sports-inspired clothing and footwear bought in the five major European countries are used to participate in sports and for normal wear. Only 23 percent is never used for the practice of sport.
-European consumers are buying more black and brown sports shoes than before. While British customers are divided between black and white, white is the dominant color in Spain.
-Impulse buying is a primary factor that triggers purchases of sports shoes in Europe, affecting 37 percent of the consumers who have bought them.
These kinds of surveys can help NPD’s clients determine the motivations that lead consumers to select one brand rather than another. They can help to fine-tune the results of previous research, validating specific points that interest individual brands and distributors. Some of the previously surveyed sports communities may be contacted again to conduct ad hoc research. New tools allow the rating of brands and retailers, linking scores to actual purchases in specific categories such as running, hiking, swimming and lifestyle.
Greater detail on demographics and pricing can also be obtained by transitioning from paper diary tracking to online surveys conducted by NPD on representative samples of more than 10,000 individuals per week in each of the five major European countries: the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain. NPD has a database of 600,000 consumers in the five countries, which it also uses to monitor consumer purchases of other types of products. (More information available from NPD by e-mailing Renaud_Vaschalde@npd.com.)
