Sport is systemically relevant: Intersport Krumholz opens a new branch in Bad Homburg. Reason enough for the CEO of Intersport Germany, Alexander von Preen, to emphasize the importance of sport and the successes of the cooperative to date, despite the challenging times.
“We are in a multi-crisis scenario,” explains Dr. Alexander von Preen, CEO Intersport Germany during a press conference on the occasion of the opening of the new Intersport Krumholz branch in Bad Homburg. “The crises are not our own fault, but we view the current developments with concern.” This means a whole range of situations that could pose new challenges for the sports market in the coming weeks and months.
New corona restrictions, price increases due to high energy costs, inflation and the weakening of purchasing power, a possible review, ongoing supply bottlenecks. The list is truly long. “Nevertheless, we are in the fortunate position that sport has a special place in society. Sport is systemically important and people want to do sport,” said von Preen.
Intersport Krumholz opens fifth branch
That’s how Oliver Krumholz, co-managing director of Intersport Krumholz, sees it. On July 7th, after a short renovation phase and an investment of 250,000 euros, Krumholz opens his fifth branch in Bad Homburg. The other four are in Mülheim-Kärlich (two branches), in Mayen and in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. Until 2020, Krumholz also ran an Adidas store in Koblenz, which had to close during the pandemic. On around 850 square meters, Intersport Krumholz in Bad Homburg offers an extensive range of sporting goods in the focus categories training, outdoor, running and team sports. The special in-store services include, for example, a 3D foot scanner or a hiking shoe test track with different surfaces.
Cooperation with an orthopaedist should also help customers to find the right shoe. A 360-degree omnichannel approach with services such as Click & Collect, providing employees with tablets and digital screens complete the offer. The so-called playmaker principle of the central Intersport web shop, to which the partner stores are connected, helps to increase online sales, says Krumholz. The new logistics center in Heilbronn has also simplified many things, for example individual branches can now also be supplied.
2022: Intersport with 100,000 square meters of modernized space
Intersport has done a lot in recent years to ensure that the affiliated sports retailers can do good business even under challenging conditions – from investments in logistics, IT and marketing to new shop fittings. Von Preen: “It makes me proud to see how our community is growing and dynamically evolving. Intersport is on course for growth. In 2022 we will set an example here! Because so far, hundreds of CI shops have already been comprehensively modernized.”
From January to June 2022 alone, six new CI-branded stores were opened – in Munich, Erfurt, Worms, Essen, Heilbronn and now Bad Homburg. Eleven complete conversions and four space extensions were implemented. Overall, stores with an area of around 100,000 square meters were modernized with a new, clear appearance. A further 100,000 square meters are planned by the end of the year. “Between 80,000 and 250,000 euros are invested per conversion,” says von Preen.
Sustainability is also set to play a more important role in the future, and partnerships with strong industrial partners such as Adidas and Puma have just been concluded. “Wholesale is an important driver of our growth,” says von Preen. This also includes the new shop formats that Intersport offers. The new urban sports format has already been implemented in 114 areas. Initial evaluations show that the concept is working. Von Preen: “On average, we see a receipt that is ten percent higher and profitability that has increased by one percentage point. That’s a lot in retail.”
Conversion within two weeks
Intersport Krumholz is run by the third generation of the family. With the branch in Bad Homburg, the Rhineland-Palatinate company is going to Hesse for the first time and sees a lot of potential in the Rhine-Main area. Krumholz: “Especially with the proximity to the Taunus, the running and outdoor segments are of course very important here.” An Intersport store was already in the current premises, but under different management. When this closed and no successor was available, Krumholz took over. “Perhaps that is also an advantage of a cooperative: many retailers know each other.” When he found out about the space that was to be freed up, he and co-managing director Frank Bahr took over the shop.
The conversion was completed in just two weeks. Von Preen expects more and more such situations in the coming years. “It’s interesting to branch out from an area of 800 square meters,” he says, but smaller areas are hardly possible for full-range retailers, so the specialist concept would fit better. For Krumholz, however, the topic of expansion is not currently relevant: “We have to get here first before we can think about the next step.”
