
The driving force behind the increase was mainly women. They (women above the age of 14) contributed about 69 percent of the sales increase while holding a market share of altogether 39 percent (for footwear and garments only). The female factor came, however, only by 25 percent from women who exercise at least once per week. This suggests that women buy sporting goods rather for fashion and leisure reasons than for actual performance.
On the product side, the healthy evolution in the German market derived mainly from footwear which was up by 6 percent over 2014. Apparently, quality matters: The average sales price for a pair of sports shoes was 59 euros. That is by about 40 percent more than in other major western European markets.