Survey: What Runners Spend on Running Shoes and Clothes

Urs Weber brought good news for the audience from the running industry gathered at the running symposium at ISPO Munich 2019: "When you see how many runners are really willing to pay for their sport - our athletes have a lot of purchasing power."

The chief reporter of the trade magazine "Runner's World Deutschland" presented the results of "Runners World Leserwahl 2018", the largest running market study in Germany.

Together with his team, Weber runs the "probably largest database for running shoes in Germany". For the sixth year in a row, he will be speaking on the stage of the ICM Munich about the biggest running trends.

Weber said that he was always surprised when he saw "how many innovations we constantly have in our field". For example "True Motion", a running shoe start-up founded by Prof. Peter Brüggemannn. The company that has the claim, "to get one step closer to the truth about the best possible running shoe," was Gold Winner at the ISPO Award 2019 in the category "Health & Fitness“.

Another running brand on an already heated German market where there are already 37 manufacturer brands? Does it pay off? Weber thinks so, and he's got numbers to prove it. To be more precise: purchasing power figures from the latest reader survey of "Runner´s World Deutschland".

8971 participants gave detailed information about their running habits and what they spend on running shoes and running clothes every year. "This is  an important planning aid for the running industry, too" said Weber. ISPO.com summarizes the most exciting results:

• 37.3 kilometres is the weekly mileage of Runner´s-World readers, a group that pursues running as an intensive hobby.
• 26 percent of the respondents are members of a sports club.
• 33 percent regularly take part in running meetings.
• 80 percent have taken part in a competition in the last 12 months.

Competitions:

• 65 percent took part in a half marathon.
• 64 percent started at a run over 10 km.
• 37 percent have completed a marathon.
• 10 percent a triathlon
• 9 per cent an ultra run

How much money do runners spend for their equipment? In 2018, according to their own information, they spend 296 euros on average - only for running clothes. That's quite a sum, although it is 20 euros below the average of the previous year 2017 - and exactly the same as in 2016.

Looking at the different segments, the share of those who spend between 101 and 200 euros is the largest at 29 percent. 13 percent spend even more than 400 and up to 600 euros.

For the target group of sports retailers, Weber finds it particularly exciting that "the greatest interest and the greatest support still goes to the sports retailer". 84 percent state that they buy their running clothes in sports shops, 79 percent in running shops and 79 percent on the Internet (multiple answers possible). This means that more runners buy in stationary shops than online. By the way, only 21 percent buy their running clothes at the supermarket or discount store.

The figures for the running shoes market are equally exciting.

• On average, the participants in the representative survey own 5.5 pairs of running shoes.
• They have bought an average of 2.8 pairs in the last 12 months.
• 92 percent are also planning to buy running shoes within the next 12 months.
• Runners have spent an average of 306 euros on running shoes in the last 12 months.
• The most used running shoe cost 129 Euro on average.

Running expert Urs Weber finds the last figure, the 129 euros for your favourite shoe, remarkable: "That's a high figure that shows: The runner doesn't care about the price of his favourite shoe. He wants a good shoe, a modern one, a new model - and is willing to spend money for it."

The interest in gadgets and accessories is exciting, too. According to the survey, the runners plan to buy the following running equipment within the next 12 months:

• GPS watches or pulse watches: 20 percent
• Functional underwear: 18 percent
• Sports bra: 13 percent of women
• Compression stockings: 9 percent
• Running backpack: 5 percent

Interesting figures from an exciting market - which does not slacken. "Running is one of the most important topics that we will have to deal with at OutDoor by ISPO in the summer", says ISPO Group Director Tobias Gröber.