Women are more likely to purchase equipment that focuses on cardiovascular well being, while men are more likely to purchase exercise equipment that stresses muscular development/toning, according to data in the recently released NSGA report “The Sporting Goods Market in 2005.”

Women led purchases of motorized treadmills (62% vs. 30%), elliptical/cross trainers (60% vs. 37%) and stationary exercise bicycles (52% vs. 37%). The remaining equipment purchases were described as “for household use.”

Males were the dominant purchasers of free weights/weight sets (64% vs. 29%) and led females in the purchase of multi-purpose home gyms (47% vs. 40%). In the previous year’s study, males were also the dominant purchasers of weight benches (85% vs. 12%).

Men and women appear equally interested in tracking their fitness regimen, with men accounting for 47% and women accounting for 45% of heart rate monitor purchases.

For the survey, “purchaser” is defined as the “major user” of the product.

Exercise equipment represented $5.0 billion of the $22.9 billion athletic and sports equipment market reported for 2004. With clothing and footwear, the “Sporting Goods Market in 2005” placed sporting goods sales at $48.9 billion for 2004 and projects sales of $50.0 billion for 2005.

For 2005, NSGA projects a 2% increase in sales, reaching $5.11 billion.

Treadmills continue to be the piece of exercise equipment with the largest sales volume. In 2004, sales of treadmills reached $2.82 billion, up from $2.75 billion in 2003. Unit sales in 2004 were even with 2003 at 4.4 million units. The average price of a treadmill in 2004 was nearly $635.

Department stores (primarily Sears) accounted for 49.4% of all dollar sales of treadmills and 54.7% of unit sales, followed by sporting goods stores (16.0% of dollars and 16.6% of units) and specialty fitness stores (12.5% of dollars and 6.2% of units).

Sales of stationary exercise bikes rose to $395.5 million in 2004, compared to $379.4 million the previous year, while unit sales were flat at 4.4 million.

Elliptical cross trainers rose 18% to $216.4 million in 2004, on an increased unit volume of 500,000, up from 400,000 the previous year (+20%).

Sales of multi-purpose home gyms and free weights/weight sets declined in 2004. Sales of multi-purpose home gyms slipped to $696.2 million from $749.5 million in 2003, a drop of 7%, and sales of free weights/weight sets were $287.2 from $303.1 the previous year, a 5.2% decline.

The data in “The Sporting Goods Market in 2005” projects 2004 purchases of sporting goods products based on a survey of 100,000 U.S. households. National Family Opinion, Inc. maintains the consumer panel used in the survey. It is balanced to parallel actual American household distribution as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Census, so that the data can be projected nationally.