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Sports Equipment Market Report 2011
Key Note Publications Ltd, Jan 2011, Pages: 146
The impact of the recession is still being widely felt across all UK markets, in the form of pay freezes, public and private spending cuts and rising prices. This is not good news for any leisure goods market; the trends associated with such times are generally for consumers to spend less on items considered luxury purchases, and to instead concentrate on the basics. Sports equipment forms part of this category, and is already undergoing the pressure of change due to a transition in the way people are choosing to exercise. Running, swimming and cycling (known as ‘pure’ fitness sports) are becoming the most popular physical activities, with their uptake compared to various equipped sporting activities increasing as time progresses.
The authors estimate the 2010 UK sports market to be worth around £1bn in consumer spend value terms (covering equipment purchased for personal use rather than equipment bought by organisations for their patrons’ communal use). The market has been in slight decline of late, although its value is relatively steady considering the double effects of the recession, and the trend away from participating in equipped sports in general. Nonetheless, the market has not yet returned to the value of its £1.2bn peak in 2006.
China is supplying increasing sports equipment imports to the UK market; the figure for total UK imports of sports equipment increased to £711m in 2010, with China overtaking the US as the leading supplier. However, the value of UK exports of sports equipment are also on the rise, hinting at greater domestic production. It should be noted that these figures are likely to be affected by the re-exporting trend in the sports equipment market, as well as raw materials becoming increasingly expensive. Therefore, greater exports value does not necessarily indicate an increase in export volume.
Generalising the market as a whole is difficult, because of the diverse range of sports catered for. Golf remains the outstanding sport for consumer spending on equipment, although home fitness equipment is rapidly increasing in market value, moving into second place within the sector. As well as these particularly significant categories, the market also includes many smaller segments, such as watersports and ‘extreme’ sports. The market is problematic to describe in broad terms, because of the unpredictability caused by so many sectors acting independently.
The immediate outlook for 2011 cannot be seen to be favourable; the authors predict a market value decline to around £980m, before the buoying effect of the upcoming 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games — events which should restore growth and reverse the decline in these years.
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