Argos topped online sales for sports and outdoor gear in 2020
Argos was the chief for online sales of sports items and outdoor merchandise in the UK in 2020, in accordance with analysis by Wette.de.
The betting agency discovered that Argos made $541m in internet e-commerce sales in 2020 for sports and outdoor gear, increased than among the main sports retailers in the UK, together with Sports Direct, Nike and Adidas.
The retailer even outperformed Amazon for online sales in sports and outdoor gear in the UK in 2020, with Amazon making $367m in internet online sales for the section.
Rex Pascual, editor at Wette.de, mentioned: “2020 was a big year for e-commerce and the sports and outdoor segment was one that grew tremendously from it. In the UK, popular retailer Argos generated half a billion dollars in e-commerce net sales in 2020, beating out sporting giants like Nike and Adidas. Argos had a robust e-commerce presence well before the pandemic struck which proved to be very beneficial during the lockdowns of 2020.”
As shoppers had been pressured to remain at dwelling by lockdowns in the early a part of the pandemic, there was a surge on online sales for numerous market segments as folks settled into lives spent predominantly at dwelling.
Many retailers noticed a rise in online demand in 2020, together with Tesco, Ocado and Amazon, and in many circumstances their efficiency and capacity to deal with this surge relied on their pre-pandemic online remit.
The pandemic proved useful for smaller companies, in addition to some retail verticals akin to luxurious items and electricals, whereas different segments, akin to clothes, suffered.
As gyms closed due to lockdown, and folks had been pressured to make money working from home, the recognition of sports gear for dwelling gyms elevated in 2020, and the highest 10 online sports and outdoor suppliers made a complete of $2.67bn through the yr.
While Argos topped the checklist of online sales for sports and outdoor items in the UK in 2020, it was carefully adopted by Sportsdirect.com, which made $423m in internet online sales for the section. Nike got here third with $404m, adopted by Amazon with $367m and Adidas.co.uk with $242m.
At the underside of the checklist had been retailers which, very similar to Argos, wouldn’t historically be considered go-to retailers for sports or outdoor items – online vogue retailer Very.co.uk noticed $192m in internet online sales for sports and outdoor items, adopted by grocery store Tesco.com with $152m and Halfords with $146m.
John Lewis got here ninth with internet online sales of $106m for the sports and outdoor section in 2020 and JD Sports was tenth with $100m.
There is little doubt that buyer behaviour has shifted online over the previous few years. Technology was seen as a approach to adapt to shoppers’ waning curiosity in bricks-and-mortar retail even earlier than Covid-19 pressured extra folks to navigate life online, and was more and more used as a approach to drive sales for retailers because the pandemic accelerated altering footfall.
For many, this modification in habits is ready to proceed even when the pandemic subsides as a result of folks have turn out to be used to new routines.
