Table of Contents
● Introduction
● Global Overview
● US and Mexico
● Europe
● Southeast Asia
● Conclusion

Introduction

The sports industry adapts quickly, reflecting shifts in consumer tastes and market conditions. This report leverages online traffic as a pivotal metric to gauge popularity, offering insights into global and regional buyer interests within the sports industry. By examining the month-over-month changes in popularity from June 2024 to July 2024, this analysis unveils the latest buyers’ trends, highlighting shifts in sports purchasing patterns worldwide and across specific regions such as the United States & Mexico, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Global Overview

Global Popular Categories

The scatter chart below provides a detailed view of two key aspects of global primary category groups (similar charts are available below for regional views as well):

• Popularity index changes month-over-month: This is shown on the x-axis, with the timeframe ranging from June 2024 to July 2024. Positive values indicate an increase in popularity, while negative values indicate a decrease.
• Popularity index of July 2024: This is represented on the y-axis. Higher values indicate greater popularity.

The global sports landscape went up overall. “Water Sports” still increased the most with a large popularity base. During summertime in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s obvious that sports related to water attract the most people. Moreover, the 2024 Summer Olympics were held in Paris, France. Therefore, water sports, including swimming, water polo, artistic swimming, diving and more, are drawing people’s attention globally. As one of the two major events, the other one is “Athletics”, which contain a lot of trivial terms, swimming competitions undoubtedly catch the global audience’s eye. Business buyers can stock all of the swim gears including swimming caps, swimming trunks, swimming goggles, swimming nose clips.

In addition, if you have watched the Olympics, you would notice that whenever the athletes showed up and walked to the swimming pool, many of them were wearing down jackets. Their purpose was to keep the warmth of the body so that they could devote the optimum state into the competition. Many down jackets looked very stylish on these tall and good-shaped athletes. Buyers could also stock similar down jackets. Because many people who watched these games were strongly attracted to these beautiful athletes. They might want to buy whatever these athletes were wearing.

US and Mexico

Popular Categories in US and Mexico

Water Sports were very popular in the US as well. Besides, we could also see another popular category “Outdoor Affordable Luxury Sports” increased a significant amount. People in the US and Mexico enjoy having outdoor activities. “Sports Safety & Rehabilitation”, “Golf” and “Ball Sports Equipment” are the three categories decreased. Here, I want to emphasize “Surfing” as a sport to pay attention to.

When I spent my undergraduate years in Northern California, I could see a lot of people surfing all the time, not just in summer. Some people even went surfing and kitesurfing in winter. The enthusiasm of American people for surfing is huge. For business buyers who are interested in the area, I suggest stocking the surfing equipment like the paddleboards.

Europe

Popular Categories in Europe

In Europe, “Water Sports” has put up winning margins so large among all of the categories that the rest of the field was left to compete for the second place.

Sailing is another outdoor water sport worth mentioning. With over 37,000 km of inland waterways and more than 70,000 km of coastline, Europe offers the perfect environment for the 48 million European citizens who regularly participate in recreational marine activities (36 million of whom are boaters), as well as countless numbers of tourists. Countries like France, the Netherlands and Croatia are especially into sports like sailing. Other than European countries, Australia and New Zealand are also very enthusiastic about sailing.

Southeast Asia

Popular Categories in Southeast Asia

Unlike other major countries and areas, the development of these categories turn out to be quite even in Southeast Asia. We could see “Ball Sports Equipments” and “Sports Shoes, Bags & Accessories” increase over 12.5% at a relatively larger popularity base. “Artificial Grass & Sports Flooring & Sports Court Equipment” and “Musical Instruments” also increased over 12.5%. 

Conclusion

Overall, the July 2024 Sports market was very expected, showcasing a clear trend, with “Water Sports” standed out, driving the surge globally and regionally without any exceptions. “Cycling” remained the leading status as the most popular category. Retailers could take this report as a reference and also take your own region’s unique situation into consideration to buy the products you want to sell.

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