The European sporting goods sector is strongly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with 45 per cent of the companies declaring a loss of turnover ranging between 50 per cent and 90 per cent since the beginning of the crisis, according to a recent survey by the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI). A new broader survey will be conducted shortly.
Respondents in the survey, conducted among FESI members—companies and national federations—comprised 40 per cent of large enterprises, 30 per cent of small and medium enterprises and 20 per cent of micro-enterprises.The European sporting goods sector is strongly affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, with 45 per cent of the companies declaring a loss of turnover ranging between 50 per cent and 90 per cent since the beginning of the crisis, according to a recent survey by the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry. A new broader survey will be conducted shortly.#
“The closure of brick and mortar stores all over Europe and internationally, as well as changes of consumers' behaviour lead to serious drop of sales. Most of our companies are currently struggling to cope with fixed costs (rent, employment costs…), which create significant liquidity shortages”, said FESI president Neil Narriman in a statement.
Many companies—around 35 per cent of FESI members—have exceptionally decided to reorganise their supply chains to help produce medical personal protection equipment and other related products to support healthcare workers.
While national governments and the European Union have put in place economic rescue plans to financially support those affected by the crisis, for some companies the support of the financial sector is not yet fully sufficient.
The survey also indicates that the current impact of the outbreak on production depends on a wide variety of factors like governments' social distancing measures, the evolution of the virus in each country, order cancellations from other clients and the overall clear lack of short- and long-term visibility for the companies.
Regarding e-commerce, the survey found digitalisation is a key driver for the sporting goods industry and that companies with efficient omni-channel retail strategies are better equipped to cope with the crisis.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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