Survey- top 50 sporting goods brands consumer purchases in the United States 2014
Top sporting goods brands in the United States - additional information
The sporting goods market is a growing, though competitive, industry in the U.S., where sales topped 64 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, up from just over 50 billion U.S. dollars a decade prior. In order to stay relevant and earn market share, it is important for sports brands to maintain not only product quality, but also brand recognition. Awareness, say marketing experts, leads to purchase, which is only a step away from brand loyalty. Customers seem to confirm this, as according to a recent survey among consumers in the United States, product quality and style are extremely important when buying sporting goods. However, the brand name also plays an important role in the purchasing decision of 60 percent of respondents, while past experience with a brand is mentioned by over 80 percent of those surveyed as a possible factor. In addition, celebrity endorsements of certain sports brands may also have a strong influence on possible buyers.
Sports brands which have simple, but memorable logos (such Adidas’ three stripes, from which the alternative name "The three stripe company" is derived), powerful quotes (such as Nike’s “Just do it”) or are strongly associated with a celebrity (such as Michael Jordan’s “Air Jordan” brand for Nike) are therefore more likely to be remembered and recognized by possible customers. And indeed, in a study regarding brand awareness, where respondents were asked to recognize brands from a list, and also had the opportunity to mention specific brands in an unaided awareness section of the survey, both female and male participants have put Nike and Adidas at the top of the list. Incidentally or not, these two brands also top the ranking of sports equipment companies, according to their worldwide revenues in 2014. The same year, Nike was named the number one most valuable sports business in the world, with a brand value of 19 billion U.S. dollars and reported worldwide sales worth 28 billion U.S. dollars.