Sports Retail Industry Analysis

Global vision of the sports industry

The demand for products in the sector varies according to demographic and income criteria, a situation that has changed the current competitive landscape. The sports sector is a major economic driver in many countries. For example, in Spain alone it represents 2.4% of the national GDP taking into account textile products, gyms, clubs and even betting.

The truth is that most customers are looking for the best deals online and businesses need to come up with ideas that allow them to offer better value for money without risking the company's profitability.

Population segments on the rise

In 5 years, the practice of sport among women has grown 13 percentage points to 42%. This increase, linked to the continuous year-on-year increase in the weekly practice of sport among the whole population throughout Europe, makes the sports sector a very powerful economic engine.

Analysis of the sports sector by country

Each country, due to both cultural and climatic differences, has different tastes in terms of sports. In the Nordic countries there are many winter sports that are little known and in countries closer to the equator, as well as in countries with warmer climates, are more akin to practicing certain sports.

Analysing purchasing patterns or simply the demand for products of one sport or another equally across all countries gives a less than accurate picture of the market.

NetRivals and the sports sector

What does it take to succeed in the industry?

It is a highly competitive sector in all countries. It is very common to have continuous price wars on a large number of products and brands.

For the consumer on the Internet, the main factor in purchasing decisions is the price of the product. Having the right price is vital to increase revenue and optimize the performance of online campaigns.

What does NetRivals offer you?

NetRivals' price intelligence software tracks millions of products in the sports industry ranging from footwear to sport-specific equipment such as running, trekking and fitness. Our systems capture this data to make it easier for brands and retailers in the marketplace to analyze the sports sector.

Since a large part of the assortment in this sector consists of sportswear and accessories, which are products with different sizes and colours, at NetRivals we monitor all the variants of each product so that you can adapt the pricing strategy for each one. It follows the price evolution and detects price discrepancies between different variants of the same article.

Some of the leading brands and manufacturers in key industry segments include Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance and Puma, with revenues of over $11 billion. NetRivals' systems store and update performance information on these products for some of the strongest players in the market, such as Decathlon and Intersport.