www.spielwarenmesse.de » Sports, leisure, outdoor » Market overview

Adidas, the world’s number 2 among the sports brands, is positioning itself as the “athletic outdoor brand” with its “Terrex Collection”. Puma, the sports lifestyle competitor, wants to expand into “new categories that promise long-term growth potential” and is currently urging people to “take a walk” in ads for its walking boots. For the outdoor specialist Tatonka, geocaching is simply a modern form of treasure hunt that is made really simple by using the new iphone. For this leisure equipment company “every child is an outdoor sportsman.” Casual clothing mutates into outdoor clothing originally intended for adventurous and nature-loving kids – and is now très chic in the pedestrian precinct. Manufacturers of toys are also equipping themselves at a great pace and are offering jeeps, angling sets, boomerangs, “scout knives”, snap hooks, thermometers, tents, guitars for round the camp fire and compasses, so that the GPS-spoiled younger generation can find their way around in the wild. The mega trend is: at home outdoors!

Nothing illustrates changes in both society and consumer behaviour as much as the urge to experience the natural world as a space for practical use and adventure. Nature is literally becoming living space and the garden is the lounge. And anybody who has always thought of hiking as stuffy and conservative now has to think again. The profile study “Hiking” carried out by the University of Marburg in 2007 reveals that 67 per cent of all students in the survey like hiking. In 2001 the figure was 54 per cent. Ergo: brainy people like hiking. Camping as an attractive form of holidaying is experiencing a renaissance. Evidence of this development came from a renowned toy supplier who exhibited for the first time at an outdoor trade fair in 2009. The state of the economy and the desire to have a staycation could be two reasons for this comeback, although they may not explain the phenomenon fully. What influences people’s decision much more is their control over what they experience that is associated with this kind of leisure activity.

Outdoor is a trend that covers all social classes. Everybody agrees on that. The European Outdoor Group estimates that the value of the European market in 2008 was 5.75 billion euros, whilst the market research company NPD Group Inc. thinks it was much higher (2007: 10.4 billion euros). It states that growth in the European core markets in 2008 was probably between 1.2 and 1.4 per cent. The different figures reflect the problems of defining precisely what outdoor actually comprises. A particularly difficult issue is the extent to which the toy industry can benefit from these developments and what its contribution could be. There are varying motives of customers who choose outdoor as a lifestyle as it were. Sometimes priority is on the pleasure derived from beautiful landscapes; sometimes it’s wanting to derive physical benefit. Sometimes it’s the “best agers” who want to keep fit; sometimes it’s families who set off with all their kids; sometimes it’s lads who recapture the street. Ultimately, it is a market that encompasses diverse branches of the economy: the tourism and leisure industry, the sports article industry and not least the toy industry that, with products ranging from classic toys for playing in the sand, kites and balls to water pistols, has always been an outdoor specialist to a certain extent.

HomeSitemapDataprotectionLegal notice Print Recommend