The focus on a clear customer group, such as runners, brings clear advantages to retailers in the Sport 2000 network.
(Photo: Sport2000)
Munich Cut-throat competition prevails in the German sporting goods trade. Large manufacturers such as Adidas and Puma are increasingly selling their jerseys through their own online shops, the discount chain Decathlon is constantly opening new stores and wants to aggressively gain market share. Generalists in particular with a wide range are finding it increasingly difficult.
Many of the Sport 2000 dealers are currently among the winners. The group opted for specialization early on, for example in stores with a focus on outdoor or running. And that’s exactly what was in demand during the pandemic, unlike team and winter sports, for example.
“All our dealers should be clearly positioned and know what they stand for,” said Sport 2000 Managing Director Margit Gesau. Therefore, one wants to convince the remaining generalists in the next few years to focus on a few sports. “It’s no longer about just being a local supplier.”
Last year, the external sales of the 974 dealers in the Sport 2000 network with a good 1,500 sales outlets increased by 29 percent to 2.8 billion euros. This was also due to the fact that new, large dealers were added while smaller ones dropped out. However, significant growth was also achieved on existing areas.
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Centrally regulated sales, in which payments are processed directly via Sport 2000, rose by a good seven percent to more than one billion euros for the first time. Sport 2000 sees itself as the clear number one among the associations, which also include Intersport, for example.
Decathlon struggles with sports enthusiasts
The German sports retail trade is highly competitive. The French sports discounter Decathlon has announced that it intends to double gross sales to 2.5 billion euros by 2026. “We want to be the top address for sports products in Germany,” said Germany boss André Weinert.
The provider, which currently has a good 80 branches in Germany, is particularly successful with customer groups who do sports from time to time. On the other hand, Decathlon finds it difficult to reach sports enthusiasts, who are often more likely to go to specialists.
The French sports discounter relies on rapid growth.
(Photo: imago images/penofoto)
The Intersport dealer association, which is organized as a cooperative, recorded a slight decline in gross sales to 2.65 billion euros in the 2020/21 financial year, which ended on September 30. However, the more than 1,500 affiliated shops reported a strong Christmas quarter. In the 2021 calendar year, revenues increased by 14 percent.
All retail chains want to expand their online business. But here they encounter increasingly powerful competition: the large sporting goods groups such as Nike, Adidas and Puma are massively expanding direct sales via their online shops. When parts were scarce during the pandemic due to production interruptions in Vietnam and problems in the supply chain, some manufacturers preferred to serve their own direct business instead of dealers.
Adidas wants to more than double online sales to nine billion euros in the next few years. The smaller competitor Puma also has ambitious plans and, a little late, has now launched its own app.
The plans of the big manufacturers have consequences for the dealers. “We may also have to switch to other brands in some cases,” said Sport 2000 co-managing director Hans-Hermann Deters. The team sports segment is also driven by discounts anyway. So it could be worth switching to categories in which the dependency on individual brands is not so great.
As with almost all providers, the online business has also grown particularly strongly at Sport 2000. Customers can buy online from many individual retailers, via the association from a suitable store selected by the algorithm, and via online-only members such as Bergzeit and Bergfreunde, who also use the Sport 2000 shopping benefits.
In the Sport 2000 supplier ranking last year, Nike was once again at the top, followed by Adidas. Puma was in third place – with significantly increasing sales.
More: Adidas significantly increases share buyback after Reebok sale.