Market Overview

The domestic sporting goods market size (based on the domestic shipment value) for 2023 was estimated at 1,649,310 million yen, 100.2% of that of previous year.

The outdoor leisure segment that underpinned the sluggish demand for sporting goods during the COVID crisis, including “Golf”, “Outdoor sports”, “Cycling”, and “Fishing”, saw a demand decline as the number of new participants started to wane. In addition, the market saw an oversupply, due to production increase at manufacturers in anticipation for continued demand growth. The situation not only led to a drop of unit sales price at retailers, but also to a decrease of purchase orders from sales channels to manufacturers.

On the other hand, the segments that slumped during the pandemic, such as competitive sports and products not for a specific occasion like “Sports shoes,” saw a recovery as the Covid restrictions eased. The market size of these categories exceeded that of the 2022.

Considering ups-and-downs by category, we projected that the overall growth of the sporting goods market for 2023 was marginal to almost flat.

Noteworthy Topics

Compared to Pre-pandemic Times, Contribution of Outdoor Leisure Segment to Overall Market Growth Remains Unchanged

From the viewpoint of comparing the size of the domestic sporting goods market to the preceding year, the outdoor leisure segment seems to have struggled in 2023. However, looking at the years since the outbreak of the pandemic, we see a quite different picture. While the domestic sporting goods market in 2023 is expected to grow by 78,150 million yen from pre-pandemic 2019, the incremental value attributes largely to the growth in the outdoor leisure segment. In contrast, in the competitive sports segment, the market size for most categories (except for “Soccer/Futsal” and “Badminton,” whose market sizes exceeded “pre-pandemic period”) are yet to recover to the pre-pandemic levels. In the segments of products not for specific occasions, “Sport shoes” exceeded the pre-pandemic level but “Athletic wear” fell short.

In summary, when viewing the market from “the growth from pre-pandemic times,” the contribution made by the growth in the outdoor leisure segment during the pandemic was significant. To that extent, the level of growth in the outdoor leisure segment during the pandemic was phenomenal.

Future Outlook

The domestic sporting good market (based on the shipment value of manufacturers) is forecasted at 1,698,440 million yen for 2024, 103.0% of the previous year.

Of the seventeen categories, all but “Rugby” and “Ski/Snowboarding” anticipates year-over-year growth in 2024. Nonetheless, in addition to the forecast that birthrate declines further in 2024, the motivation for “recovery from COVID situation”, which drove the market growth for the last three years, is fading away. Although the recovery of inbound tourist demand and a rise of prices set by manufacturers may underpin the market growth, without any other particular growth factors, the outlook for the market growth is uncertain.

Research Outline