A sporting goods retailer or sporting goods store is a retail businesses selling sporting and recreational goods, including

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

, sporting equipment and related

general merchandise General line of merchandise or general merchandise is a term used in retail and wholesale business in reference to merchandise not limited to some particular category. General merchandise stores (general stores) address this sector of retail. Acc ...

History

Decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

, the world's largest sporting good retail chain, opened its first store in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in 1976. It now has about 1700 stores in 60 countries and territories. The sector contracted globally in 2007 and 2008, due to the loss of

disposable income Disposable income is total personal income minus current income taxes. In national accounts definitions, personal income minus personal current taxes equals disposable personal income. Subtracting personal outlays (which includes the major ...

during the

Global Financial Crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. The sector contacted again in 2020, outside China, due to restrictions on outdoor and team sports during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Many brands, retailers, and manufacturers failed to return a profit, and many households reduced physical activity due to reduced

. However, demand for sportwear and indoor fitness equipment remained high. The sector experienced significant growth in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. In 2021, McKinsey & Company identified a shift away from conventional

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retail to online shops requiring more agile supply chains and

experiential retail Experiential retail or experiential commerce is a type of retail marketing whereby customers coming into a physical retail space are offered experiences beyond the traditional ones (such as in a clothing store: browsing merchandise, advice from live ...

offering unique experiences. In the United States, Dick's Sporting Goods began trialling concept stores with specialties, or in-store experiences like golf putting green, wellness experts, yoga classes, rock climbing, batting cages, and equipment repair services. In the same report, McKinsey & Company also identified a strong market for sportswear, which was becoming both more lucrative and more competitive. This was partly due to the blurring of lines between

active wear Sportswear or activewear is clothing#Sport and activity, clothing, including footwear#Shoes, footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safe ...

and casual wear. Also in 2021,

Mintel Mintel Group Ltd is a global, privately owned market research firm based in London. The corporation also maintains offices in Chicago, Mumbai, Belfast, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dusseldorf, Bangkok, and Seoul. ...

has identified three potential growth areas: women's sporting goods; men's sportswear; and the marketing of premium brands, particularly to parents. In 2022, research in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

found consumers were planning to spend less at sporting goods retailers due to rising

costs of living Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a cer ...

and other prices.

By market

United States

In the United States,

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and Dick's Sporting Goods are the largest sporting goods retailers. Walmart recorded $9.8 billion in sporting goods revenue in 2015; Dick's recorded $6.9 billion in revenue.

China

In China, the sector expanded at an average rate of 16.5% a year from 2015 to 2019. The sector continued to grow in the Chinese market during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to increased physical activity by the country's growing middle class.

History

By market

United States

China

References

See also