Consumption of sports equipment, apparel and footwear grew by 4.0 percent to $278.4 billion around the world in 2007 in terms of dollar retail sales including sales taxes, according to the annual survey released by the authoritative NPD Group. Among the various regions of the world, the biggest growth took place in the Middle East and Africa, where the market rose by an estimated 14 percent. Europe saw an increase of 2 percent; Asia expanded by 6 percent, and sales in the Americas went up by 4 percent.
The fastest-growing markets within these regions were South and Central Asia (+13%), the Middle East (+16%) and Central and Eastern Europe (+20%), all areas that are experiencing strong economic development. Western Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and Canada were all essentially flat.
Changes in foreign exchange currencies affected some of NPD’s estimates. Because of the strengthening euro and the weakening dollar, the growth of the total world market in terms of local currencies was lower than 4 percent, and while the USA’s share of the market dropped by 4 percentage points to 36 percent, Europe’s market share increased.
Nevertheless, the USA posted the highest growth among the developed economies, rising by 3 percent overall, with gains of 3 percent in sports shoes, 4 percent in sports apparel, 3 percent in bicycles and 3 percent for other types of sports equipment.
Europe saw a 7 percent jump in sales of bicycles and accessories, but the rest of the equipment market was largely flat because of the poor snow situation and lower sales of football-related items. Sales of sports shoes and apparel grew by 4 percent and 1 percent throughout Europe, respectively, thanks largely to progress in the emerging markets.
NPD’s analysis of the multiple data in its possession shows that more than one third of the revenues worldwide come from sports-inspired shoes and clothes, compared with gear actually used for sports. This trend is most beneficial for the big brands, such as Nike, Adidas and Puma, which have large lifestyle collections already, and can more easily afford to branch out in the fast-growing emerging markets where the sports fashion business in booming.
In its press release, the international market research company gave also a few figures about China’s sporting goods market. It is believed to be worth $7.9 billion, up by 15 percent or more in 2007. Of that figure, $1.6 billion is footwear, $3.3 billion is apparel and $3 billion is equipment.
Among the top sports categories in China, the football market is estimated at $252 million; running at $550 million; basketball at $118 million; and the swimming market $244 million. These estimates cover shoes, clothing and equipment.
