Sporting goods are big business in the U.S. Statista reported that in 2014 over 63 billion dollars were spent on sporting goods. In 2015, the industry had a total estimated value of nearly 65 billion dollars, and sales are anticipated to keep growing in 2016.

 

Gordon Brothers reported retail sales during the first two months of 2016 at U.S. sporting goods stores increased 9% compared to the first two months of 2015. And it's projected that sporting goods store revenues will grow by nearly 3% in 2016. The firm also noted that the top 50 companies are responsible for almost 60% of industry revenue.

Walmart led the field of sporting goods retailers in 2015, with revenues from sporting goods sales of 9.8 billion dollars for the year. Dick's Sporting Goods was second with $6.9 billion in sales, Academy Sports + Outdoors rang up 4.6 billion in sales, while Target ($4.4 billion) and Bass Pro Group ($4.3 billion) rounded out the top five. Other outdoor speciality retailers making the top 20 included Cabela's (#7 with $3.48 billion in sales), REI (#10 with $2.2 billion in sales), LL Bean (#14 with $1.61 billion in sales) and Gander Mountain (#16 with $1.37 billion in sales).

 

In 2014, consumers made nearly 70% of sporting goods purchases in stores, as retailers reported some $44 billion in sporting goods store sales. Online shops and mail order were the second most popular channels to buy sporting goods, accounting for approximately $10 billion in purchases in the same year.

 

Ecommerce portal Internet Retailer reported that online retail sales in the U.S. grew 14.6% in 2015, and many of the leading outdoor retailers saw rising online revenues for the year.

 

Dick's Sporting Goods' online sales were estimated at $748.9 million, or 10.3% of sales, up 9.2% from 2014. Cabela's 2015 online sales were estimated at $774.8 million, according to Internet Retailer.

 

Gander Mountain had estimated 2015 online sales of $133.3 million, an increase of 5% from 2014, while outdoor retailer and cooperative REI enjoyed revenues of $2.4 billion in 2015, up over 9% from sales in 2014. And while its store sales rose 7%, its online sales increased almost 23%.