For the third year in a row, sports sales in Sweden have fallen back. In 2024 the decline in retail sales was 2.9 percent for the full year and Q4 alike, as shown in The Sports Index, a report put out by the industry organization Swedish Sports Forum.
We have to go back to 2021 to find a positive year for the Swedish sports business.
The last quarter of 2024 started weakly. The previous year’s cold and snowy October produced strong comparative figures that sports retailers could not match this time around. Sales fell by 8.6 percent in October, followed by a 2.8 percent drop in November. The quarter got a boost in December, which showed positive growth of 2.7 percent.
In addition to unfavorable weather, the performance of the sports retail sector continued to be affected by the erosion of household purchasing power and increased price sensitivity, combined with squeezed profitability and store closures within the sector. This has made it difficult for sports retail to reverse its negative trend.
Daniel Löfkvist, COO and Vice President at Stadium Group, comments on the development and looks ahead:
“A tough end to the calendar year 2024 and much of it is reflected by the weather, as most of the period has been far too warm with the lack of winter with snow and cold,” Löfkvist said. “This, together with continued challenging consumption, has made Q4 relatively tough to handle. We now hope that the first half of 2025 will be better and that consumption will pick up,” he concluded.
The fourth quarter is the period when the largest share of sports retail sales is made online, driven by November’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. E-commerce sales showed growth in the fourth quarter, increasing by 4.5 percent, while sales in physical stores declined by 4.6 percent.
Because of the mild weather and lack of snow, sales of seasonal products, such as cross-country skis, boots and winter-related accessories, lagged significantly in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Sweden’s success in table tennis at the Paris Olympics continued to affect sports retail sales. In December, racquet sports sales skyrocketed 86.1 percent from the previous year, indicating that there were many racquets under Christmas trees.
Lars Palmgren, CEO of SGN Sport (Team Sportia, Sportringen and Bike Nation), draws parallels:
“It’s wonderful that a single sport can engage as much as table tennis has done,” Palmgren said. “For me, born in the ’70s, it reminds me of when Ingemar Stenmark buttoned up his Lange boots, put on his Elan skis and got the whole of Sweden involved in alpine skiing. Our table tennis profiles are creating something similar today.”
