Sports trade under pressure: Consumer behavior and inflation add!

Sports trade under pressure: Consumer behavior and inflation add!

The sporting goods industry in Austria is struggling with the continued inflation and increasing cost of living with considerable loss of sales. In 2024, sales in domestic sports transactions declined by 4.9 percent to 2.44 billion euros, as can be seen from the information from the association of the sporting goods producers and sporting goods dealers in Austria (VSSÖ). On average, each Austrian spent 266 euros for sporting goods. Inflation was 2.9 percent. At the same time, leading wages and energy costs to reduce the staff stand in the industry, which decreased by 2.9 percent to around 14,300 employees. The apprenticeship numbers have also reduced from 658 to 595.

for 2023, the VSSÖ reported on sales in sports retailers of 2.28 billion euros, which corresponds to a decrease of 4.4 percent compared to 2022. Nevertheless, a comparison with the pre -crises in 2019 shows that sales have increased by 0.8 percent, which indicates a positive trend, even if the number of employment has dropped by 1.7 percent. Michael Schineis, spokesman for the VSSÖ Presidium, emphasizes that the demand from the population for exercise and variety in nature can be felt. This can be seen, for example, by the popularity of e-bikes and outdoor sports, which led to 5.9 percent in the previous year.

challenges and strategies

The challenges of sports trade are complex. During 2023, there were high stocks due to a weak purchasing power and a lack of winter, which presented the sports trade in front of additional exams. But the VSSÖ sees bright spots: A positive signal is the demand for personal and competent advice in the sports shop, since online sales overall has decreased by 7.5 percent throughout Austrian trade. Michael Nendwich, spokesman for the sporting goods trade in the Austria Chamber of Commerce, emphasizes the importance of this support when buying sports equipment such as e-bikes.

In order to meet these challenges, Schineis demands from the new federal government to quickly implement the measures announced to help specialist retailers and winter tourism. These include the repair bonus for bicycles and e-bikes as well as improvements in working conditions. It remains exciting to see how these developments will affect Austrian sports retailers and its future.

For further information on the developments in the Austrian sports trade, you can report the reports of OE24 and VSSÖ Read.