Economy “2024 will be a good year”
Why the sports industry believes in a sales boom despite the slump in consumption
Status: 25.02.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Ski racer Linus Straßer is by no means the only beneficiary of his victory in Kitzbühel
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa/AP
The successes of the top athletes also ensure better business for sporting goods. With the World Cup and the Olympic Games, the industry has two big revenue drivers this year. But a deeper trend is also playing into the hands of retailers.
The slalom race in Kitzbühel is the most important slalom race of a World Cup ski season. And a German won this year: Linus Straßer. In addition to fame and honor, the 31-year-old from Munich won a bonus of 100,000 euros for his triumph on the challenging Ganslernhang route.
But Straßer is by no means the only beneficiary of his one minute and 40.36 second victory run in January. Germany’s sports retailers are also doing better business this way. “We immediately notice such successes in the stores,” reports Frank Geisler, board member of the Intersport Germany dealer association, which includes 1,500 stores in this country.
A look at the calendar gives the sporting goods industry confidence. Because the connection between the success of top athletes and sales to the masses also applies to other sports, as Geisler says.
Source: Infographic WELT
And there will be completely different sales drivers in the coming months than a surprise coup in skiing, above all the European Football Championship in Germany and the Summer Olympics in Paris. Geisler is therefore convinced: “2024 will be a good year for sport.”
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Other conditions are also correct. The Corona period has brought sport into greater focus for many people, be it through a new awareness of health and well-being or because the restrictions during the pandemic have made the value of team sports clear. “It’s about feeling good, social interaction and personal development,” explains sports psychologist Ralf Brand from the University of Potsdam.
Source: Infographic WELT
The Intersport figures reflect the growing importance. The German market leader achieved sales of 3.5 billion euros in the 2022/2023 financial year that ended at the end of September, which is 5.7 percent more than in the previous year and even 21 percent more than in pre-pandemic times, despite the general slump in consumption.
And this trend is set to continue. Board member Geisler predicts annual growth of five percent for his company by 2030. The expansion is to be achieved through 100 additional Intersport stores as well as through better integration of the stationary business in stores with online retail.
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According to Geisler, the current drivers for the largest sporting goods market in Europe with a trading volume of more than 13 billion euros are the high demand in the field of running, the ongoing outdoor trend, the fusion of lifestyle and sport, which means, for example, the wearing of sports fashion and sneakers Everyday life is meant, and above all a boom in the area of team sports.
This is also confirmed by competitor Sport2000, which grew by almost three percent in 2023. “The team sports category is one of the biggest winners,” says managing director Dominik Solleder. “The reason for this is that sports clubs are growing strongly again after the loss of members during the Corona period. Children in particular want to experience team sports together.”
Source: Infographic WELT
But things are not going equally well everywhere. The retail landscape in the sports sector is currently influenced by the insolvency of the Signa Group, which not only includes the Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof department store chain, but also a number of sports specialists such as Sport Scheck, Tennispoint and Fahrrad.de.
Tennispoint has now found a new owner. Entrepreneur Geisler also believes in solutions for the other providers: “Because the need is simply there.” However, Intersport itself does not want to step in as an investor.
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