Europe Retail Retail Matters On leads a bifurcated sportswear market

Equity Research 18 September 2026 | 5:14PM BST EUROPE RETAIL

Retail Matters: On leads a bifurcated sportswear market; Chinese Aggregator European MAUs deteriorate further while Zalando and Next data remains strong

In our monthly Retail Matters reports, we aim to apply a micro-level lens to the Richard Edwards | apparel and footwear companies in our coverage. Through an analysis of the Goldman Sachs International high-frequency alternative data available to us, we endeavor to isolate the demand, Ben Williams pricing and discounting signals most relevant to near-term fundamentals. In this | August issue, we conclude the following four points: Goldman Sachs International

Hamish Bogdan 1) Sportswear demand stays bifurcated, albeit On’s outperformance continues: | Net Purchase Intent (NPI) trends for the major US sportswear brands remained Goldman Sachs International bifurcated in August, albeit both Nike and Adidas saw improving trends. In China, On Sarthak Shrivastava | continues to outperform peers on Tmall and markedly lead competitors on unique Goldman Sachs India SPL web visitors growth, as Nike, Adidas and Puma saw moderating trends post the World Cup. However, On continues to see elevated markdown in the wholesale channel across regions, as does Nike in the UK.

2) Chinese Aggregator European MAUs deteriorate further in Europe on a yoy basis: Chinese aggregator app MAUs in Europe stabilised in absolute terms in August, albeit YoY growth trends continued to deteriorate in the region. By contrast, Vinted’s MAUs sustained their strong growth in Europe, markedly outperforming Chinese aggregator MAUs on a YoY basis.

3) Zara and H&M web traffic strong but App MAUs still negative; Inditex outperforms in the US: Worldwide unique web traffic growth remained strong for both Zara and H&M in August; however, both brands’ Global App MAU growth remained negative YoY. In the US, Inditex’s ATV growth turned positive in August while H&M’s US observed sales declined sequentially, with Inditex continuing to outperform overall.

4) Online data broadly supportive, with Zalando accelerating and Next’s growth robust: Zalando’s app MAU growth accelerated in both Europe and Germany in August, with Lounge by Zalando and ABOUT YOU Outlet (Germany) also improving, albeit ABOUT YOU’s core app growth moderated. Unique web traffic to zalando.de and aboutyou.de continued to grow solidly, while Zalando’s YTD markdown activity is now in line with 2025 levels (versus elevated previously). For Next, growth remains solid across the UK, Germany, Middle East and the US.

We highlight Buy ratings on Inditex, Next, On and Zalando; Sell rated on ABF and H&M.

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