The Industry has a plan, but will need time to adopt and adapt to the changes triggered by the pandemic

The WFSGI President & CEO, Robbert de Kock commented on the last survey edition:

“In a hopeful way we have evaluated the results that the situation around orders do not further deteriorate. It is also good to see that labor shortage is no longer causing problems for the majority of the sector. This might help to balance the concerns still prevailing when it comes to supply chain disruption and material shortage. 

We also have to consider carefully the fact that most players in our industry are forecasting that they need over a year for their business to recover. Over 95% of companies seem to be prepared for that period as they have a plan to sustain operations, this is a promising sign to accept this challenge.

Supply chains will undergo changes, this is something that the responses clearly show. With a clear support for environmentally friendly products, there seem to already be first signs in which directions the changes point.

With that said, the WFSGI will put a special focus and dedication to assist the global industry as good as possible to bridge the period of recovery and provide the necessary support.”

The WFSGI has prepared a survey edition for November, we would encourage all interested sporting goods companies to participate in this pulse survey and to share it further with any of your partners in the sector. We kindly remind you that this survey is open to any sporting goods company no matter if a WFSGI member or not. No individual respondents information or company data is requested, the survey is completely anonymous and takes no longer than 3 minutes to be filled in.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE WFSGI COVID-19 IMPACT SURVEY OCTOBER EDITION

Manufacturing Companies Responses:

DEMAND: Less than one third of survey participants didn’t see orders decrease. The situation remains challenging for the European and Northern American markets from where 50% see less orders being made. However, it seems that for most other regions the situation has not further deteriorated.

LOGISTICS: Of the 36% that are facing issues getting enough material for their production, the most given reason was that finished goods were not shipped in time and delayed.

SUPPLY: Still 64% of sporting goods industry representatives see their supply chains being disrupted. They see this issue mainly for the regions of South Asia and Far East.

LABOR: Over 60% are no longer confronted with labor shortage which is the most promising result since the initiation of the survey.

LEGAL: There is very low difference between sporting goods members being impacted by legal requirements or not, this month again some 4% more see their business activity being restricted by regulatory measures.

FINANCE: The situation remains stable with fifty-fifty dealing with cash flow issues or not.

REGRESSION: The numbers of survey participants seeing their business being impacted by COVID-19 is still high with 70%, that’s only 5% less than last month.

RECOVERY: Since the summer months, it’s the first time that some respondents expect business recovery of 70% and above. However, this does not counter the fact that most companies assume that they will need over a year to recover.

MEASURES: A large majority of over 95% of respondents have a plan to sustain operations with a special focus on consolidating production capacities and lean production.  

Retail and Brand Companies Responses:

IMPACT MITIGATION: Increasing online sales remains unchanged the most chosen option by close to 90% to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. All other option have received from less than 35% of participants approval. 

REPERCUSSION: Since summer, consolidating the supply chain and keeping the same supply chain but attributing less order to each of the suppliers, are the two answers mostly provided.

PRIORITY: The industry attributes the same importance to Employees Health as it does to keeping cash positions.

EXPECTATIONS: With over 80% of respondents expecting flexibility of suppliers, this option remains throughout the year the most important answer provided..

TRANSFORMATION: The trend shows clearly that none of the participating industry players plan to keep their supply chain unchanged. Lean and adaptive production are the most prominent considerations.

SOURCING PRIORITIES: The trend continues upwards for respondents who are not reframing their sourcing priorities at all, as over 40% of respondents indicated this month.

MARKET TRENDS: The strong trend continues as environmentally friendly products are the crucial trend for over 80% of participants.

PREVAILING SPORTS: Running is for the first time since May as important as Outdoor with close to 80% of respondents predicting these two as the prevailing sports after the pandemic.