The sporting goods market continued to outperform the generally poor consumption climate in France over the past few months, according to NPD. Providing a glimpse into its new monthly retail audits in this country, which are based on a sample of about 1,000 stores, the international market research firm reports that the market grew by 3 percent in the February-April period this year, as compared to the same three months of a year ago, with increases of 6 percent for sports equipment, 3 percent for sports shoes and 1 percent for sports apparel.
NPD declined to provide a figure for January's sales, but its estimates are in contrast with the retail statistics of the Bank of France, which are largely based on the retailers' declaration of their value-added tax receipts. They indicate that the sporting goods retailers in the country saw their sales decline by 2.8 percent in May as well as in the first five months of this year, as compared to the corresponding periods of 2012. Positive scores were only recorded in January and March.
An official of NPD explained the difference with the fact that its own retail panel doesn't include Décathlon but includes the sports and leisurewear sales of more generic retailers and several e-tailers that are not regarded as sports retailers by the Bank of France.
NPD's audit shows that abundant late snow falls led to sales increases of 18 percent in alpine skis and 12 percent in snowboards. At the same time, the outdoor sections of the stores experienced increases of 25 percent for backpacks and 18 percent for Nordic walking poles. Some types of large home-fitness equipment such as rowing machines, stationary bikes or treadmills sold well, too, scoring increases of 20 to 25 percent.
It was not all rosy, however. Partly because the relatively cold and rainy weather conditions, sales of sunglasses and some other items recorded sales declines. Daypacks fell, too. In the tennis sector, sales of racquets and balls dropped by 3 percent and 6 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, sales of tennis clothing went up by 8 percent, driven by the classic polo shirt, which generates nearly 25 percent of the turnover in this segment. When it comes to other types of sports clothing, sales of skiwear and hiking apparel rose by 5 percent and 11 percent, respectively. In less technical categories of sports clothing, hooded sweatshirts and pullovers registered increases of 18 and 12 percent, respectively, taking market share away from polarfleece shirts, zipped coats and unhooded sweatshirts.
After-ski boots, which are included by NPD in the sports shoe sector, recorded a sales increase of 12 percent during the three-month period, in tune with the positive trends for snow sports. In the lifestyle segment, running shoes continued their strong sales momentum with growth of 34 percent.
