Intersport International Corp. GmbH, the worlds largest sporting goods retailer, increased its retail sales by 3 percent to €10.2 billion ($13 bn) Euro in 2012.



Important growth drivers were the areas “Soccer” – with the UEFA  2012 in Poland and Ukraine-as well as Running and Fitness. In 2013 retail sales are expected to be comparable with 2012.

 

The results marked the best retail sales achieved in the history of Intersport, which is based in Bern, Switzerland and operates more than 5,400 stores in 41 countries. The company also completed its acquisition of The Athletes Foot during the year.

 

 

The 2012 performance once again underlines the effectiveness of our strategy to focus clearly on the Intersport brand, CEO Franz Julen said in the companys earnings release. We will continue to further invest in the brand at the local, national and international level. Our business model pursues a uniform international approach, however leaving enough room for national adaptations. This local adaptation guarantees we remain close to our consumers. Further success factors are: long-term, trusted, suppliers as well as the ability of the retailers to display their entrepreneurial spirit under the Intersport banner. In short, we seek a sustainable growth strategy, as we favor long-term success over short-term profit maximization.”

Running and Fitness remain trend-setters.
Intersport continued to benefit from the global trend towards fitness and wellbeing. Consequently, Intersports core competencies like Running and Fitness disproportionately contributed to the retail sales increase in 2012.


Other categories like soccer, winter sports and outdoor added positively to the sales results. Soccer driven by the UEFA 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, where Intersport acted as the official sport shop, winter products due to cold weather in January and February as well as in the first half of December and the outdoor category remained stable after several years of substantial growth.


With view to the geographical markets, the strongest retail sales increases were recorded in Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, the UK and Sweden as well as in most countries of Eastern Europe.


Besides enhanced development in its traditional markets, Intersport will continue its expansion into new markets. In August 2013, the first three Intersport shops will be opened in China followed by the first store opening in Morocco in fall. In the first half 2014 the market entry in Belarus will be realized with the opening of the first three stores. At the end of 2012 Intersport had a total of 5419 points of sales.


Integration of The Athletes Foot Shortly prior to Christmas 2012 the acquisition of 100 percent of the US based franchise retail chain The Athletes Foot was concluded. The Athletes Foot sells mainly sports shoes that satisfy both performance and lifestyle customers and consists of stores in 27 countries. For the most part the integration process is nearly completed.


Several working groups are currently preparing important, future strategic elements of The Athletes Foot. This includes the positioning, brand values, store concept, the procurement and expansion strategy as well as the business model.

 

In six to nine months we will be able to present the future long-term strategic direction of The Athletes Foot, said Julen. The experiences made so far are promising. We consider it realistic to develop more than 1500 The Athletes Foot stores by 2025

Flat retail sales expected for 2013
Especially due to the bad weather, but also due to the challenging economic situation in many European countries linked to reduced consumer spending, the first five months of this year have been difficult. Moreover, in 2013 major sports events are absent.

 

“In spite of the rather unfavorable conditions for 2013, it is our goal to reach stable retail sales,” Julen concluded.