The Swedish sporting goods market rose by 6.5 percent at the retail level during the third quarter as compared to the year-ago period, according to the new SportIndex launched by the Svensk Sportforum last year in combination with HUI Research. While sales at physical stores went up by 4.1 percent, e-commerce grew at a much stronger rate of 21.9 percent, continuing a trend already observed in previous quarters and accounting for 13 percent of the major retailers’ sales.
On the positive side, the period was characterized by a return to schools, offices and sports activities. On the negative side, however, major disruptions in production and logistics led to a shortage of products, which had an effect on sales, said Lars Palmgren, CEO of SGN Sport Sweden, the parent of Team Sportia, Sportringen and Bike Nation, which participated in the study.
In addition to other big retailers such as Stadium and Intersport, Decathlon took part in the survey for the first time. Claes Forsberg, who heads up the Sportforum, hopes to attract more participants including some pure e-tailers. He said the new SportIndex will hopefully allow industry managers to “make wise decisions without getting caught up in discount campaigns before an important sales period for us,” which would affect profit margins.
