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Spanish Market Insight: Physical Shops Prove Popular By Beating Online Sales
The Spanish economic outlook is on the up, with Spain leading the European growth charts. Even though it has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, it is the country that grew the most in 2022. A 5.5% GDP growth rate places Spain at the top of the list of the five biggest European economies. This is due to the steady increase in tourism and a new surge in growth in exports. Forecasts point to a further 1.5% growth in Spain’s economy in 2023, but the bad news is that inflation will grow too. Lower energy prices has offered a respite thanks largely to the price reduction negotiated by the Spanish government with the EU. However, the cost of groceries will keep rising. This is enough to keep Spanish consumers on the cautious side. They spend, but they are careful.
By Rocio Enriquez
In the boardsports market there are some wealthy consumers that prefer to purchase high quality products. Miguel Requena from Dreisog in Fuengirola explains: “We specialise in top of the range gear, so our target customers can afford it”. However, the great majority of people have considerably lower purchasing power. This requires offers and discounts to seal the deal, especially in the skate and surf segments, where there is a general excess of stock. These two sports maintain a steady business, as they continue to be the two most popular board sports.
Even though the surge in newcomers has stabilised now, there are still newbies every year. Wing foiling is picking up but snowboarding is having a difficult moment. An unusually warm winter has cut down numbers of practitioners. Winter sales have not been very strong, and shops hope for a better spring, but are expecting a difficult one. They rely mostly on hard goods sales for the bulk of their business, as apparel and shoes are not selling well. Most shops have snow up their online business, although this is proving to be a marketing support operation more than a sales one. Compared to their brick-and-mortar spaces, online sales are small. The sites do a good job as a place for potential customers to research the products they want. This enables them to get to the physical store with the purchase decision almost made.
Schools, however, are more efficient at driving business. Not only do they secure new sports fans and customers, but they also offer them an experience with lots of expert advice that they all want when they buy new kit. “Some months we offer personal free skate lessons, and people seem very happy”, says Óscar Ramos from Tactic in Barcelona. Surf schools depend on the waves, so activity levels go up and down, but they generally do well. The most welcome form of support for stores concerns product pricing. On one hand, there has been a steady increase over the last year. “Brands are charging delivery fees in pre-orders, something that didn’t happen before”, says Miguel. They’d welcome a regulation of prices to avoid surprises.
On the other hand, the dramatic price drops that some brands offer online make it difficult for specialised stores to maintain their business. “I’d ask brands to maintain the same price in their online stores as they fix for us, so we can keep working as we have always done, with stores promoting the brand in our social media”, says Óscar. There is definitely something to be said for the community work that specialised stores do to support their brands.
