Analysis of digital transformation effects on customers in the sportswear market.

Abstract

The sportswear sector has begun to undertake a massive digital transformation, that is the technological and cultural process adopted along the value chains of both SMES and large companies in the market. The choice to analyze the sportswear industry was taken as it is a market that annually exhibits continuous growth, which is mainly due to the adoption of digital as well as the exponential growth of Asian players. In the first part, the paper presents a definition of the term "sportswear" and an analysis of the entire sector; observing how the global market share is divided between small and large players, market drivers, the factors that influence the behavior of the sportswear consumer and distribution channels. The second part describes the concept of digital transformation and its specific applications in the sportswear context, therefore what types of new digital technologies, omnichannel strategy with the consequence of new dynamic business models. The third part closes the academic literature base of the work and it is reserved for the risks of the digitization process with a focus on the technologies used to collect the data of consumers by the industry analyzed. The analysis then proceeds by a graphic representation of the results obtained through a quantitative survey reserved for consumers of the sector. The aim is to highlight both the positive effects of the digitization process, therefore a greater appreciation of the new products and solutions offered as well as greater involvement in digital sportswear ecosystems; both the negative effects, a possible lack of awareness of the technologies used by these companies for the collection of personal data as well as fragile IT security practices for digital sportswear activities. The final part is therefore dedicated to comments on the results and conclusions.