Wholesale Sporting Goods Sales Topped $52 Billion In '04

US sales of sports products were just over $52 billion (at wholesale) in size last year. According to SGMA's Recreation Market Report ('05 edition), manufacturers' sales of sporting goods equipment, sports apparel, and athletic footwear in the US totaled $52.2 billion in '04, a 4.2% increase over '03.

Sporting goods equipment sales remained strong -- $18.2 billion in '04
vs. $17.5 billion in '03. The five largest categories of sporting goods equipment are: Exercise Equipment Machines ($3.94 billion); Golf ($2.51 billion); Firearms/Hunting ($2.03 billion); Camping ($1.75 billion); and Fishing ($1.05 billion).

Sport categories registering significant wholesale sales gains were: Snowboards (up 11.3% to $157 million); Firearms/Hunting (up 7.4% to $2.030 billion); Scuba & Skin Diving (up 7.1% to $257 million); Paintball (up 6.9% to $417 million); Archery (up 6.9% to $278 million); Tennis (up 5.7% to $222 million); Racquetball (up 5.6% to $19 million); Baseball/Softball (up 4.0% to $489 million); and Exercise Equipment (up 3.9% to $3.945 billion);

In exercise equipment, treadmill sales account for 26.6% of that category. Also, sales of elliptical machines increased by 28.6%, from $140 million in '03 to $180 million in '04. After treadmills, the next three largest fitness categories are home gyms ($315 million), exercise cycles ($190 million), and free weights ($190 million). Consumer spending for exercise equipment accounts for 80.2% of the entire exercise equipment category.
In traditional team sports, the three leading categories were: Baseball/Softball ($489 million); Basketball ($383 million); and Soccer ($252 million).

Sports apparel sales rose 4.9% in '04. It is the largest segment of the sports and recreation industry with sales of $23.9 billion. Activewear tops had the highest sales, $13.6 billion in '04. Swimwear had the highest percentage gain, 9.0% (from $1.960 billion to $2.136 billion). Other sports apparel items experiencing sales growth were tops, sweatshirts, outerwear, socks, pants/slacks, caps/hats, underwear/intimate and sport/exercise bras.

Athletic footwear wholesale sales rose 3.1% in '04. Total sales were $10.03 billion, compared to $9.73 billion. Two athletic footwear categories exceeded the billion-dollar mark: Running/jogging ($2.89 billion); and Basketball ($2.08 billion).

The growth categories in athletic footwear were aerobic (up 32.7%), recreational boots (up 25.3%), low performance (up 24.5%); aerobic (up 11.1%), sport sandals (up 8.2%), skateboarding (up 6.9%); basketball (up 6.2%); and running (up 4.6%).