Völkl is getting out of the pádel market and refocusing on tennis, as the German brand’s sales director for racquet sports in Spain, Héctor García, told CMDsport. The reversal, he observes, is enabling Völkl to evade some of pádel’s present-day turmoil. “This is not the time to enter” that market.
Völkl’s adventure with Spain’s favorite Mexican import began in the days before Covid. It was then that Tennis Teknology (TTK), the Spanish distributor of its tennis products, encouraged the company to expand into the European market for pádel. As García himself says, in Spain, pádel already had more players and greater sales in hardgoods than tennis, and the sport was making inroads just about everywhere in Europe. However, the expected revenues never materialized.
Tennis, meanwhile, is a “healthy” market in Spain, he says, with linear if unexciting growth. It, too, has enjoyed a post-Covid boost, and the smaller number of brands helps to ensure stability. Besides, tennis and pádel are complementary, not opposing, business segments. “These days, tennis clubs are feeding off pádel and vice versa; they’re very different sports, but the same people can play both.”
Last year marked Völkl’s 50th year in the tennis business, which was not its first. That distinction falls to skiing. In fact, this year marks the company’s 100th anniversary.
Sales for the first half of the current year were flat from 2022, a year with “spectacular” revenues. These are undisclosed, but García tells CMD that revenues are up 35 percent since 2019 and ascribes the rise to the tennis market’s reliability and his company’s approach to it. Völkl sells top-of-the-line racquets only, avoiding entry-level prices and reinvesting in R&D. It also sponsors no professional athletes. In Spain, its top-selling products are the Cyclone racquet and racquet strings, which by themselves account for 40 percent of revenues and 60 percent of products sold. Other racquets contribute another 40 percent of sales, with accessories making up the balance.
Völkl’s objective for 2023 is to reproduce last year’s excellent sales figures.
