Smaller cities boost sportswear market in India

India’s Tier II and III cities are driving demand for sportswear. The main reason for this is growth in e-commerce. A host of small cities like Surat and Indore, are now ordering branded sportswear because of ease of purchase. The sporting culture in these towns has also matured with cities like Surat, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh organising marathons.

For example, of Asics’ total sales through its own website last year about 35 per cent was from smaller towns. This has given the Japanese sportswear company the confidence to open its mono stores in such cities. For Under Armour, the American sportswear brand and one of the world’s largest, such sales from Tier II and III cities contributed more than 60 per cent to its overall e-commerce sales last year. For Puma small cities now contribute almost 40 per cent to the topline compared to 20 per cent five years ago. In 2019, the German sportswear brand opened 30 stores in these markets and has witnessed 15 per cent like-to-like growth in these stores.

Both Amazon and Flipkart have been focusing on the next set of internet users from beyond the top ten cities to drive sales growth. In the last festive season sale, both e-tailers saw a surge in the number of such customers, not only driven by aspirations but also aided by Hindi interfaces on the apps.