Australia Sporting Goods Market

With a geographical size equivalent to that of the United States, Australia’s outdoor leisure experiences are wide ranging and cover beaches, coral reefs, rivers, mountains, snow, desert, rainforests, and bushland.Participation rates in fitness-related activities are generally higher than in many other countries, with market potential adjusted to take account of Australia’s relatively small population. 

The Australian sporting goods market is valued at approximately USD1.25 billion.  Local Australian production is estimated at USD150 million with exports from Australia totaling USD15 million. Imports to Australia are USD1.1 billion and meet close to 90 percent of total domestic demand.   

In 2021, Sport Australia released a comprehensive survey on most popular activities by participation, which are:  recreational walking (47%); fitness/gym (37.4%); running/athletics (19.8%); swimming (17.1%); cycling (14.3%); bush walking (8.6%); yoga (6.9%), football/soccer (5.5%); golf (5.4%), and tennis (5%). 

A handful of well-established independent distributors exist in the market. There is a small number of distributors capable of selling into the mass market. Another small number exist that specialize in selling sporting goods to schools and clubs. There are other importers and distributors that focus on various sub-sectors or product specializations. 

Behind the United States, Australia has the second largest square footage of retail space per capita in the world.  This has led some distributors to consider the Australian market to be oversupplied. While niche opportunities always exist for high end items, distributors advise that Australia’s temperate climate means that exporters may need to anticipate relatively smaller sales volumes of high-end items. 

For more information on the Australian sporting goods market please contact office.australia@trade.gov.