Scapino Opens First Shop-in-Shop for Online Sporting Goods Discounter

Scapino opened its first Aktiesport shop-in-shop this month to kick off a strategic collaboration aimed at providing Aktiesport with brick-and-mortar showrooms and fulfillment and Scapino with a broader merchandise mix. Scapino intends to roll out the shop-in-shop format to a large number of its 211 stores by the end of 2013.

Scapino’s brick-and-mortar stores will offer a “best-of-the-best” range of sports brands based on the latest and most up-to-date Aktiesport shop-in-shop format. In addition, a very wide range of Aktiesport products will be made available at through touch screens in Scapino’s stores.
 
The collaboration follows research Macintosh Retail Group conducted last year which revealed that the growth in online sales was diminishing ‘natural’ traffic to Scapino’s brick-and-mortar stores. MacIntosh found that while roughly 30 percent of Scapino’s online orders were picked up in store, it needed to come up with other ways to increase foot traffic. The retailer also concluded it needed to make its in-store product displays both more compact and more visible, thereby freeing up floor space for other uses.
 
Scapino hopes to address these finding through its collaboration with Aktiesport, which is a leading discounter of sporting goods brands.
 
 
Scapino currently operates 211 stores in the Netherlands and 29 in Belgium, which have average floor space of some 800 square meters. It is by far the largest provider of shoes, fashion, sports and leisure goods among Macintosh’s many banners.
 
Aktiesport, a subsidiary of Unlimited Sports Group, is the largest independent sports retailer in the Netherlands, operating 150 stores mostly at premier locations, as well as a strongly growing online business. The retailer provides the most up-to-date ranges of top-tier sports brands with a lowest-price guarantee. Aktiesport stores have average floor space of some 150 square meters.