The past year ended with a bang for Swedish sports retailers. Their total retail sales rose by 20.7 percent year-on-year during the important fourth quarter, according to the quarterly Sportindex produced by the Swedish Sports Forum in collaboration with HUI Research, which is based on a sample of major players in the sector. On a comparable store basis, their sales went up by 18.7 percent.
This came after gains of 15.0 percent in the first quarter, 4.5 percent in the second quarter and 6.5 percent in the third quarter. For the full year, total sales went up by 12.9 percent on a comparable basis, after a restated increase of 0.4 percent in 2020. They rose last year by 10.8 percent at brick-and-mortar stores and by 24.0 percent for the retailers’ online sales operations.
As certain Covid restrictions were lifted at the end of the summer in Sweden, the physical sports trade enjoyed a strong recovery. After an overall drop of 2.2 percent in October, the overall sporting goods sector posted year-on-year gains of 29.1 percent in November and 36.1 percent in December. Sales rose by 24.4 percent at physical stores in the quarter, rising on a comparable store basis by 22.0 percent during the period and by 40.0 percent in December alone. Online sales weakened as a result in the quarter, growing by 6.5 percent and representing 18 percent of the retailers’ revenues.
The strong growth in the fourth quarter was led by a 24.0 percent increase for clothing, building up to an improvement of 19.2 percent for the full year, in contrast with a drop of 3.4 percent in 2020. On an annual basis, sales of clothing went up by 16.8 percent at physical stores and by 33.1 percent online.
Footwear sales increased by 8.0 percent in the quarter, driven by a 14.8 percent gain in the important outdoor and winter boots category. After a drop of 0.2 percent in 2020, footwear sales recovered in the sports trade with a rise of 10.9 percent for all of last year, with sales at physical stores and online growing by 10.0 percent and 16.5 percent, respectively.
Sales of sports equipment showed an increase of 17.4 percent in the quarter, including a gain of 36.8 percent in December. Thanks to an early, cold and snowy winter season, sales of cross-country skis jumped by 96.7 percent in the quarter.
For the full year, sales of equipment were up by 5.5 percent, softening from the exceptional 6.8 percent growth that the category had enjoyed in 2020. Equipment sales were up in 2021 by 2.7 percent at physical stores and by 18.4 percent over the internet.
In the latest quarter, the sports trade would have scored even higher gains without the disruption in the supply chain, which affected in particular items such as footwear and bicycles. Anyhow, it performed much better in Sweden than the overall retail sector, which showed an increase of 5.8 percent, accompanied by a drop in consumer confidence due to concerns about the development of the national economy.
