Sports Retailers Lose Money as Norway’s Market Turns Sour

For Norway’s sports retailers, the pandemic boom has given way to a much harsher market. Only 61% of sports shops made a profit last year, compared with 81% in 2021, when outdoor activities surged.

The share of profitable retailers has fallen every year since. Knut Erik Rekdal, an analyst at NHO Service and Trade, said sales and profitability were now improving, but not evenly across the industry. Competition has intensified, especially online, where retailers often compete on price while seeing little price growth.

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Both revenue and profitability in the industry are actually on the way up, but not everyone is taking part to the same extent. There is a wider gap between the companies.

Milrab has felt the downturn particularly sharply. In 2021, the company earned 18 million kroner on revenue of 267 million kroner. Its next four annual accounts brought falling revenue and mounting losses, with a combined deficit of 118 million kroner between 2022 and 2025. The founders eventually sold the company to Swedish retailer Widforss at the end of 2024.

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We took on too much inventory and made too many investments.

Milrab chief executive Mikael Nilsson said the pandemic boost had made the company overconfident. "We took on too much inventory and made too many investments," he told E24, adding that the problem had affected many companies but had become exceptional at Milrab.

Nilsson said scale had become essential in the retail market. Milrab and Widforss remained relatively small operators, he said, but combining them created a stronger foundation through greater volume. The restructuring brought the companies into one organization with shared warehousing, technology and central functions.

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It takes a certain scale to operate professionally, at least online.

Milrab is now aiming to turn its finances around in 2026. "We will perform enormously better than last year, and we are aiming for black figures when we close the books for the year," Nilsson said. He added that the turnaround depended not only on cost cuts but also on investment and access to capital, which had been crucial after the company’s limited cash restricted its stock.

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We will perform enormously better than last year, and we are aiming for black figures when we close the books for the year.