Sports Apparel Tracking

Sports Tracking Europe, a joint venture between market research organizations NPD in the USA, and GfK in Germany, has launched a new information service for the retail and manufacturing industries in the European sportswear markets. Sports Apparel Track provides comprehensive information on sportswear-related retail sales and purchase behaviour in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Sports Apparel Track supplements the existing services offered by Sports Tracking Europe: the consumer panel on sports shoes and the retail panel on sports equipment. The new information service was launched on 1 July 2002. The first results from July to September will be available in the third quarter 2002, directly after the school holidays. Information about sportswear purchases is supplied by respondents of the same consumer panel that reports purchases of sports shoes, facilitating analyses which use data from both services.

Sports Apparel Track offers sports gear manufacturers and retailers in general more information about key target groups, i.e. end consumers and retailers, than has been available to date. The service includes information about the major sportswear categories: outerwear and underwear, walking/hiking gear, training wear, swimwear and ski suits as well as the relevant accessories.

Sports Apparel Track can help the retail and manufacturing industries to:

• establish the size and structure of markets in the five countries,
  
• identify new market opportunities and achieve growth in sales,
  
• strengthen relationships between the retail and manufacturing industries and increase their chances of success,
  
• recognize changes in the purchase behaviour of end consumers,
  
• find out what products are used for what purposes.

'With this new service, Sports Tracking Europe is providing a tangible measure for understanding this very important area of sports business,' explains Isabelle Grenet, Vice President of Sports Tracking Europe. 'Together with the athletic footwear services already on offer, we are meeting the expectations of the sports goods industry.'

In 2000, the NPD Group, USA, and the GfK Group set up the Sports Tracking Europe joint venture with the aim of gathering information about the sports shoe markets in eight European countries. The new service combines data from continuous consumer and retail surveys and produces a complete overview of the sports shoe market. Clients using the service regularly receive data from up to eight countries as well as sales figures and information about current marketing campaigns being run by companies operating in this market. The NPD Group has a shareholding of 75 per cent in the joint venture, while the GfK Group has a stake of 25 per cent.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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