The European outdoor market expanded by 3.1 percent to €4,776 million at the wholesale level in 2013, based on the State of Trade survey compiled by the European Outdoor Group (EOG). The organization estimates that this amounts to retail sales of more than €10 billion before sales taxes. The number of units sold increased more slowly by 2.8 percent to 174.6 million, driven by footwear.
Germany alone remains the largest market in Europe, with sales amounting to 25.7 percent of the European tally. That amounted to €1,229 million at wholesale and was up by 3 percent for the year. Next comes the U.K. and Ireland, with joint sales up by 3 percent to €638.5 million. They are ahead of France, where wholesale revenues of outdoor products were estimated to have advanced by 3 percent to €581 million last year. The market that displayed the fastest growth was Russia, where outdoor product sales climbed by 10 percent to €299 million, but observers felt that the sell-out was lower.
The survey showed growth for outdoor products across all regions and all categories last year. Some 53 percent of sales came from apparel and 27 percent from footwear. Among other categories, accessories and backpacks each accounted for 6.5 percent of European turnover, compared with 3 percent for tents, and 2 percent each for climbing equipment and sleeping bags and other travel gear, including mattresses.
