On the occasion of the upcoming ISPO Munich sporting goods trade fair, the Sport 2000 International dealer association is announcing its strategic goals. As the world’s second largest trade organization of independent sports retailers with 3,586 stores in 25 countries and a total turnover of 6.5 billion euros, the association wants to grow even more internationally together in the future under the name One Sport 2000.
Uniform brand presence worldwide
“In the future, we will place an even greater focus on optimizing our international cooperation, expanding specialization and progressively implementing our retail formats,” says Margit Gosau, CEO of Sport 2000 International and Sport 2000 GmbH. “Last year we took important steps towards our strategy of becoming One Sport 2000.” This included, for example, the introduction of a new, cross-border brand identity. In the coming year, the focus will be on pushing forward the key topics of data management and digitalization even more intensively.
Uniform retail concepts
At the same time, there is currently a return to stationary retail. “In the midst of the transformation taking place worldwide, stationary specialist retailers are becoming increasingly important again. We are currently experiencing that more and more sports brands are rethinking their direct-to-consumer strategy and recognizing and appreciating the value of stationary specialist retailers with personal advice,” Gosau continued. The association wants to take advantage of this development and promote the expansion of existing retail formats. In addition to the specialized concepts Absolute Run and the Running, Outdoor, Team Sports or Ski Experts, this also includes multi-category retailer formats that combine several sports under one roof. In addition to the first four Sport 2000 multi-category stores in Mauritius and Madagascar, the first European store will open on December 1, 2023 on 2,000 square meters in Dendermonde, Belgium.
Building an international team
With the rollout of the formats and concepts, the international sports retail company is also pursuing the clear strategy of being perceived worldwide as One Sport 2000. “In the future, the Sport 2000 national subsidiaries will provide more tailored services to those retailers who are committed to a binding, strong partnership and to the stringent implementation of Sport 2000 formats, concepts and partnership approaches. All national companies agree on this,” Gosau continued.
For 2024, an international retail team will be set up in collaboration with the national representatives of the Sport 2000 countries. According to Gosau, all retail activities, be they format or concept developments, will in future be determined via a defined approach by the retail team, with the aim of: “To appear as a strong retail brand with defined formats and concepts, rather than different approaches in every country to roll out,” explains Gosau.