EuroSIMA Consumer Study of Boardsports Sales

•    The study reveals that one third of the 15-35 population (30.6%) has bought at least 1 surfing article over the past 12 months.
54.8% of the population practicing boardsports has bought at least 1 surfing article over the same period of time.

•    4 in 10 people living on coastal zones are buyers of surfing articles, versus 3 in 10 of those living in cities and only 2 of 10 living in mountain zones.

•    There are slightly more males than females buying surfing articles, especially in Spain (40.1% vs. 27.6%), in France (35.5% vs. 26.6%), and in Switzerland (18.6% vs. 10.5%).

•    Population aged 26-35 is slightly likely to buy surfing articles than the 15-25.
That is especially the case in Italy (38.7% vs. 30.7%) and in the UK (39.7% vs. 31.7%).

•    Amongst those buying surfing gear, wetsuits are particularly bought in Italy (59.8%) and in the UK (51.4%), but not quite in France (16.7%) and in Spain (21.2%).
Boardshorts are very popular in the UK (49.5%) and in Switzerland (50%) whereas it is not the case in Italy (15.9%).

Snowboarding gear market

•    Roughly one third of the 15-35 population (32.9%) has bought at least 1 snowboarding article over the past 12 months.
Over the same period of time, 6 in 10 of the population practicing boardsports (59.4%) have bought at least 1 snowboarding article.

•    The population living on coastal zones is slightly less likely to be buyers of snowboarding articles (30.6%) than those living in mountain zones (34.3%) or in cities (33.6%).

•    Males more than females buy snowboarding articles (36.6% vs. 30.3%). The gap is even wider in Switzerland (42.8% vs. 29.8%), in Spain (40.8% vs. 30.6%), and in the UK (30.4% vs. 22.4%).

•    The study shows that there is no major difference in terms of snowboarding purchasing levels between those aged 15-25 and those aged 26-35, except in Italy where a bigger part of the elder group buy these articles (49.3% vs. 40%).

•    Boots, goggles and snowboards are the articles bought the most by snowboarding gear buyers.

Skateboarding gear market

•    Roughly 3 in 10 population (29.7%) have bought skateboarding articles over the past 12 months.
More than half of the population practicing boardsports (51.1%) have bought a skateboarding article during the year.

•    Males more than females buy skateboarding articles (32.3% vs. 27.2%). The gap is even wider in France (36.8% vs. 23.6%) and in Spain (35.1% vs. 23.9%).

•    Skateboarding purchasing levels are higher amongst the age group 15-25 (31.9%) than with the 26-35 one (27.6%). That is especially the case in France (36.5% vs. 24%).

•    Skate shoes is the skateboarding article most bought across all European countries (27.9%), including France although only 16% of snowboarding buyers in this country bought this article in the last 12 months.

•    Protective clothing is then the second most bought article (19.5%) except in Switzerland where it is not bought on a large scale (5.3%).

Focus on sports participation

The research study confirms that living zones influence boardsports activities. Snowboarding and skiing are practiced by more people living in mountain zones while surfing is practiced by more people living on the coast.

Among boardsports participants:

•    Skiing is more practiced in France (29.4%) and less in Portugal (11.6%) and in the UK (16.6%).
Snowboarding is much more practiced in Switzerland (39.5%).

•    Surfing is very popular in Portugal (31.5%).

•    Females do ski more than males (22.9% vs. 17.9%).

•    Males practice more skateboarding than females (18.4% vs. 13.5%).

•    15-25 do more skateboarding than those aged 26-35 (18.5% vs. 13.5%).

Surfing levels among those practicing surf

•    There are more regular surfers in Portugal (14.1%) than in other European countries.

•    There are more regular surfers amongst males (11.3%) than females (7.8%); and more beginners amongst females (45.3%) than males (39.6%).

•    There are more beginners among the 15-25 than the 26-35 (18.5% vs. 13.5%).

Skateboarding levels among those practicing skateboarding

•    There are more beginners in Italy (47.3%) and in Spain (41.1%) than in other countries.
It is the opposite in Switzerland where regular skateboarders are more numerous (30.2%) than beginners (24.5%).

•    There are more regular and fewer beginner skateboarders amongst males than females.

Snowboarding levels among those practicing snowboarding

•    There are far more regular snowboarders in Switzerland (32.7%) and to a lesser extent in France (21.4%) than in other European countries.

•    There are more regular snowboarders amongst males than females (18.7% vs. 13.2%).