The Cost of Having Fun - Sporting Goods Sales

Sports Apparel

Many Americans devote part of their leisure time to pursuits related to personal health and fitness. Participants in physical fitness activities or in sports such as softball or skiing often purchase highly specialized apparel and equipment. According to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) in Shoppers Bought More, Spent Less on Sports Apparel in 2003 (May 2004), retail sales of all sports apparel totaled $37 billion in 2003, down slightly from the $37.8 billion tallied in 2002. Sports apparel sales represented about 22% of the $166.1 billion Americans spent on apparel of all kinds during 2003. (See Table 2.5.)

Despite the decline in revenues, the total number of sports apparel items purchased in 2003 increased by 3%. This discrepancy was attributed to a 5% drop in prices, to an average of $8.35 per item. This amount was more than a dollar less than the average price for all apparel of

TABLE 2.5

$9.66. One-third of the total number of items purchased were T-shirts, with the rest consisting of such items as swimwear, outerwear, socks, underwear, hats, and polo, golf, and rugby shirts.

According to the SGMA report, less than a third of the sports apparel purchased was used in active play, accounting for just $11.5 billion of the $37 billion total. (See Table 2.5.) The average cost of these items was less than the $8.35 sports apparel average—just $6.45 each.

Athletic Footwear

In 2003, according to research performed by the NPD Group/NPD Fashionworld for the SGMA, retail sales of athletic footwear in the United States reached $16.4 billion, up 4.2% from 2002. Running shoes accounted for some 28% of the athletic footwear market, with sales of basketball shoes increasing by 6.2%, almost triple the 2.2% sales increase for all running shoes. As with athletic apparel, NPD/SGMA observed that less than half of athletic shoes were purchased primarily for use in sports or exercise. The total number of athletic shoes sold during the year was 448.3 million pairs, approximately three for every two Americans. Men's shoes accounted for 197 million pairs, women's 126.5 million, and children's shoes 124.8 million. The average price per pair was $36.48, a figure that was 9% lower than the 1998 average of $40.07.

Sports Equipment

The SGMA reported in its Recreation Market Report (2004) that the wholesale value of sports equipment shipments rose slightly from 2002 ($17.4 billion) to 2003 ($17.5 billion). In 2003 the largest category was exercise equipment and machines ($3.8 billion), followed by golf equipment ($2.4 billion). Camping gear topped $1.7 billion, and firearms and hunting equipment wholesale shipments were worth $1.9 billion in 2003, while shipments of fishing gear slightly exceeded $1 billion. In team sports, the three largest categories during 2003 were baseball/softball ($473 million), basketball ($377 million), and soccer ($240 million). (See Table 2.6.)

Exercise Equipment

According to the SGMA, by 2000 adults in half of all American households owned at least one piece of exercise equipment, and it was used regularly in two out of three of them. Roughly equal numbers of men and women owned fitness equipment. Those twenty-five to thirty-four owned 24% of the equipment; those thirty-five to forty-four, 23%; fifty-five and over, 22%; forty-five to fifty-four, 18%; and eighteen to twenty-four, 13%. The most frequently owned equipment was free weights, followed by treadmills and stationary bikes.

Research conducted by the National Sporting Goods Association, a retail trade association, found that in 2001 more females (52%) than males (39%) purchased fitness equipment. Nearly one-third of purchases were made by consumers ages thirty-one to forty-four, 29% were made by persons ages forty-five to sixty-four, and 22% of exercise equipment purchases were made by adults ages twenty-five to thirty-four.

Industry observers attributed the strength of the exercise and fitness market to the growing number of older Americans who wanted to stay healthy and fit. This trend was expected to continue as an aging U.S. population, intent on lifetime fitness, drove the market.

Recreational Transport Expenses

In its Recreation Market Report, the SGMA announced that wholesale recreational transport sales, which included bicycles, pleasure boats/motors, recreational vehicles, and snowmobiles, totaled $18.5 billion in 2003. Sales of pleasure boats and motors grew from $9.4 billion in 2002 to $9.6 billion in 2003, while sales of personal watercraft, such as Kawasaki's Jet Ski brand, increased from $581 million to $597 million. Sales of other recreational vehicles (not including motor homes) increased from $5.6 billion in 2002 to $5.8 billion in 2003. (See Table 2.6.)

The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) estimated in 2003 Recreational Boating Abstract that in 2003 seventy-two million Americans participated in recreational boating, up 6% from the sixty-eight million who participated in 2001. Americans owned about 1.6 million sailboats and approximately 2.5 million miscellaneous craft, such as canoes and rowboats. In 2003 the average cost of a sailboat was $40,077 and inboard cruisers averaged a hefty $372,830, while the typical personal watercraft cost $8,890 and a canoe just $573. (See

TABLE 2.6

TABLE 2.7

Table 2.7.) The NMMA estimated that Americans spent more than $25.6 billion on retail expenditures for boating in 2003, up from $19.3 billion in 1997.