Spending on Sporting Goods Drops, Both Online and In-Store

Consumers reported spent 7.7% less on sporting goods in January than they did in the same month a year earlier.

Online spending at sporting goods stores declined 6.8% year over year, while brick-and-mortar spending in this category fell 8.4%, Seeking Alpha reported Monday (Feb. 12), citing credit and debit card data from Bank of America. 

The drop in spending continued a trend seen during the previous month, as there was a 7.7% decline in spending on sporting goods in December too, according to the report. 

There has historically been a correlation between Bank of America’s sector data and the same-store sales of sporting goods retailers, the report said. Since April 2014, there has been an 89% correlation rate with Academy Sports and Outdoors and an 81% correlation rate with Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Dick’s Sporting Goods reported in November that it racked up record sales in the third quarter, with its total rising 2.8% year over year and hitting $3.04 billion. Its comparable store sales rose 1.7% during the quarter, driven by increases in both transactions and average ticket.

Following the results it recorded in the third quarter, the sporting goods retailer raised its 2023 comparable store sales outlook from the previous flat to positive 2% to the new expectation of positive 0.5% to positive 2%.

“Our updated guidance balances confidence we have in our key strategies with an acknowledgment of the uncertain macroeconomic environment,” Dick’s Sporting Goods President and CEO Lauren Hobart said Nov. 21 during the company’s quarterly earnings call.

The Census Bureau’s December retail sales data, released Jan. 17, came in strong. The headline numbers show that retail sales were up 0.6% overall for the month, building on November’s 0.3% gains.

Of the more than one dozen categories tracked by the government, most segments gained, with the exception of sales at furniture stores, electronics stores, and health and personal care retailers.

The National Retailer Federation (NRF) found that retail sales — excluding automobiles and gasoline — rose 0.44% seasonally adjusted month over month and were up 3.07% unadjusted year over year in December.

That followed gains of 0.77% and 4.24%, respectively in November.