Business news : Some major retail players outperformed a flat European market in 2011

The lack of a major international sports event, unseasonal weather conditions and the poor economic situation in certain countries led European consumers to take a pause in their purchases of sporting goods in 2011. Retail sales of sporting goods increased by only 0.2 percent in terms of euros last year in the 15 Western European countries covered by an exclusive annual SGI Europe survey, reaching a level of €52.9 billion after value-added tax. Eliminating the effects of currency conversions and increases in the VAT rate in some countries, the consumption of sporting goods declined by 1.2 percent inEurope. The drop came after a decline of 1.0 percent on a constant-currency basis in 2009, which was followed by an increase of 2.6 percent in 2010 that was mainly attributable to favorable weather conditions and the World Cup of football. You can read the full story by clicking on the box below, but the actual chart – with figures on market size for each of the 15 countries and sales development and market share data for the 67 major retailers operating in the them – is only available to SGI Europe subscribers. They can also access similar data for the last six years through SGI Europe’s electronic archives.

by SGI Europe through Ispo newsblog .