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76% retailers find online sales helpful in pandemic: WFSGI

07 Aug '20

3 min read

Pic: World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry

The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), the world authoritative body for the sports industry, has announced the outcome of the July 2020 edition of its WFSGI Covid-19 Impact Survey. With the commitment and active participation of the people working in its industry, the WFSGI can now compare the results of the surveys of last four months.

Acccording to the survey, increasing online sales remained unchanged the most chosen option to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. 76 per cent of retailers and brand companies consider this measure to help their business.

The survey suggested that there is very little change on the demand side compared to June. Most importantly, 25 per cent of respondents to the survey didn’t face any decreasing orders at all while the situation in Northern America seems to be more challenging compared to last month. Whereas on the logistics side only 50 per cent of respondents faced material shortage, which is a considerable improvement.

“The WFSGI intends to continue this exercise as long as the pandemic has an impact on the global sporting goods sector. The purpose remains to provide key insights to help manage the crisis and take decisions for the future,” WFSGI said in a press release.

“I am pleased to learn that there is considerable improvement when it comes to supplying the sector with goods and available labour forces. Also, globally speaking the demand has slightly improved. But times remain challenging especially for the sporting goods business in the Americas where the globally positive logistics and supply trends are not mirrored organisation,” Robbert de Kock, WFSGI president & CEO, said in the release.

“It seems that our industry slowly adapts to the new normal as less companies consider social distancing measures or working from home are having an impact on their work force. Similarly, a decreasing number of respondents are challenged by legal measures,” Kock said. “However, there is a still a very high number (86 per cent) of respondents who see their business being impacted by this pandemic. This also leads to a large majority (94 per cent) considering transforming their supply chains and close to 70 per cent rethinking sourcing priorities. This will have an impact on the industry.”

“Looking ahead, it is promising that respondents are more optimistic than in previous months regarding the recovery of their business. But it remains crucial to note that, as the pandemic goes on, businesses do expect to need more time to recover,” Kock said.

The survey further found a slightly positive trend in supply for most regions. But more businesses than last month face supply chain disruption in Northern America.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (JL)

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