Good winter boosts sports market in first half-year
The Swiss sports market developed slightly positively in the first half of 2019 with +1.5% and is on a gentle growth course. Winter sports made a significant contribution to the good result in the first quarter of 2019 - compared to the weak prior-year period.
Very good weather conditions and a moderate Swiss franc exchange rate attracted locals and tourists to the mountains. All submarkets, from hard goods and footwear to textiles, benefited. Summer all-season sports, on the other hand, performed below the previous year's level. Sales from the World Cup, in particular, failed to materialize and had a sustained negative impact on textile sales.
Apparel sales (-3 percent) remain challenging. In addition to Football, sales of Swimwear also declined - due to the somewhat delayed start to the summer. The fitness and running segments were also weaker, although outdoor was able to increase slightly.
Sports footwear, which is heavily influenced by online retailing, remains a constant and weighty sales driver with a share of just under 30 percent of the sports market.
Online retail continues to record strong growth: In the first half of 2019, sales increased by around 25 percent. The share of stationary trade is declining.
A big boom (not included in the above sports analysis) is e-bikes. Kurt Meister, GfK expert in the sports sector, ventures a look into the future: "Sales, especially e-mountain bikes, are very much in demand. If the trend continues like this, by the end of this year or next year at the latest, every second bike sold in Switzerland will be an e-bike."
For the first time, the Swiss population has exceeded the 8.5 million mark. Among the Swiss population, sports as well as sports lifestyle go hand in hand and topics such as wellness, health and fitness remain as popular as ever. It is therefore to be expected that online sales in these segments will continue to rise. The current somewhat low exchange rate of the Swiss franc against the euro could fuel the issue of "foreign purchases" again somewhat, but could also keep tourists away from Switzerland as a winter sports destination. However, winter sports will once again tip the scales. The start to the winter of 2018/9 was below expectations in terms of sales and could be topped in the coming season. All in all, these are good conditions for the sports market to close the year in the black.
