Snow and cold have a clear effect on sales, according to contacts Jonas Linder has had with the organization's members.
December was depressing. The weather was way too mild for us. So this is really positive.
Anders Engström, CEO of the Alewalds retail chain - with five stores in Stockholm and Uppsala - confirms the weather effect.
"Strong increase since the snow came," he writes in an email to TT.
“A welcome boost”
The effect is quite direct, especially when it comes to winter sports like cross-country skiing, skating and alpine skiing, according to Linder.
But also for warmer clothes, shoes and accessories. When the snow and cold arrive at the right time, consumers tend to both supplement and update their equipment, he says.
Sportforum, whose members are manufacturers, suppliers and retailers of sporting and leisure goods in Sweden, will present the next quarterly summary of the industry's development at the end of January.
Last year started positively for the industry. But the trend was broken in the third quarter and there is a tendency towards a weak recovery for the whole of 2025, according to Linder.
Our assessment is that Christmas sales for the sports industry were weaker than expected, he says.
Foreign platforms take stakes
Sports stores have had a series of “tough years” behind them, according to Linder. Costs have risen, customers’ purchasing power has been squeezed by inflation, and large inventories have built up, putting a strain on profitability. At the same time, foreign online players are eating up an ever-increasing share of the market.
In our latest survey, 15 percent of consumers stated that they had purchased sporting and leisure goods from a foreign platform in 2025.
However, Linder now sees a recovery for the Swedish sports industry, with the winter weather helping to accelerate the turnaround.
There are good reasons to believe in a gradual recovery and positive development in 2026.
