NSGA: Firmer Pricing Stabilized Footwear Sales in 2009

In spite of a 4% decline in unit sales, the athletic and sports footwear market reached $17.1 billion in 2009, according to NSGAs soon-to-be-released Sporting Goods Market in 2010. This represents a 1% decline from the $17.2 billion in sales in 2008. In 2008, sales had declined 2% from the previous year. The two declines were the first since 1999 when sales fell 4%,

Sales in 2009 mark just the third time the footwear market has surpassed the $17 billion mark. In addition to the $17.2 billion in sales in 2008, sales reached $17.5 billion in 2007.

Once again, the largest category of athletic and sport footwear was walking shoes, which reached $4.4 billion in 2009, up 5% versus 2008, when consumers spent slightly more than $4.2 billion on walking shoes.

With participation in exercise walking exceeding 90 million Americans, it makes sense that they purchased more walking shoes than any other category, NSGA Vice President of Information & Research Thomas B. Doyle said. In spite of a weak economy, they were willing to pay a little bit more for their shoes, with the average price of walking shoes rising 2%.

Among footwear categories with $1 billion or more, only running/jogging shoes showed an increase, 5% to $2.54 billion, up from $2.3 billion in 2008. Purchases of cross training shoes ($1.53 billion) showed a 6% decrease. Sales of hiking shoes/boots, which had reached $1.04 billion last year, were down 16% to $873 million in 2009.

Gym shoes/sneakers sales slipped 4% to $2.54 billion versus $2.64 billion in 2008. Fashion sneakers, a separate category, fell 2% to $838 million.

This information is contained in NSGAs annual study that provides an overview of the sporting goods market and where 27 types of athletic and sport footwear are tracked. The total U.S. market for athletic equipment, footwear and clothing is expected to reach almost $52 billion in 2009, with the final data to be released by the end of May.

The Sporting Goods Market in 2010 is a copyrighted NSGA consumer study that projects 2009 purchases of sporting goods products based on a survey of 100,000 U.S. households. National Family Opinion, Inc. (NFO) maintains the consumer panel used in the survey, which is balanced to parallel American household distribution as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Census, so that the data can be projected nationally. The report is prepared for NSGA by Irwin Broh Research.