In December 2019, the auditing company Deloitte GmbH Germany published a new study on the general consumer behaviour of sports enthusiasts aged 15 and over in Central Europe. In addition to selected countries, the focus was primarily on the German market.
The objective of the study was to identify new trends in stationary or digital retail trade and to gain important insights into the target groups.
The results presented by Dr. Felix Mutter at ISPO Munich 2020 make it clear: consumer behaviour has hardly changed at all over the past two years. The majority of people interested in sports still prefer to shop in stationary stores (approx. 60%).
Around 25-40% use online shops to buy new sporting goods. Around 600 to 650 euros are invested annually. It is remarkable at this point that Austrians spend 1,382 euros per year, almost twice as much as all other nationalities surveyed in the study.
According to the market researchers, the feared theft of advice in the stationary retail due to digitalisation is largely unfounded. The main argument for the decision to buy or to switch between stationary and digital trade is primarily the price. After all, almost every consumer who obtains information or advice when buying sporting goods in a retail outlet completes the purchase on site. Just 8% of those who prefer to buy online get advice in the shop and order the desired product at home on the Internet.
It is noticeable that per capita spending in stationary tretail is on average higher at 668 euros than at 632 euros in online shops. If people shop digitally, they prefer to buy via the computer (81%) and mostly from female customers (53%), while men (51%) predominate in stationary trade.
The issue of sustainability also played a role in the survey. According to the study, more than half of the Central European customers surveyed are quite prepared to pay between 8 and 20 euros more for a product of equal quality but basically sustainable.
Small side note: The most popular sports among the surveyed buyers in almost all Central European countries are
- Swimming
- Running
- Fitness
- Football
- Hiking
The same is true for Germany, although interestingly enough football did not make it to the podium.
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