At the General Assembly, Sport 2000 International gave an insight into the business figures for 2020. Despite major challenges, gross retail sales fell by “only” 9 percent.
In view of the challenging Corona year 2020, Sport 2000 International is satisfied with the results in the association: With currently 3,615 locations in 22 countries, adjusted gross retail sales of 4.3 billion euros were achieved. This corresponds to a decrease of almost 9.0 percent compared to the previous year. This was announced at the General Assembly of Sport 2000 International, which took place on May 19th as a virtual format.
“We are satisfied with the result, considering all the challenges of the past year. It shows that we have done our homework in the past – to create a sound basis for Sport 2000. Because even if we and our dealers are still concerned with overcoming the crisis, we have consistently continued to work on our future strategy. It is precisely this agility that is required by times like these in order to be able to act even after times of crisis, ”explains Margit Gosau, CEO of Sport 2000 International and Sport 2000 GmbH, about the result.
During the general assembly, the re-election of Matthias Grevener as deputy chairman, Hans-Hermann Deters (both Germany), Marius Rovers (Netherlands) and Jean-Louis Parent (France) confirmed the current form of the supervisory board. Dr. Holger Schwarting (Austria) in office.
Central construction sites at Sport 2000 International
For the year 2021, there are a few core topics at Sport 2000 International that are clearly in focus. This includes the further expansion of cross-border digitization and e-commerce, the expansion of strategic partnerships and the exploration of new strategic business areas. In addition, work is being carried out on the continuous expansion of the international retail format Absolute and the official rollout of the new multi-category format. Partnership and closed cooperation are required not only with the industrial partners, but also within the group, where a concentrated joint alignment of all Sport 2000 countries is at stake. “The aim is to enable even closer collaboration with the Sport 2000 member countries and industrial partners across all strategic core areas. With our industrial partnerships, which have been closely interlinked to date, and our stable presence in Europe, we have already been able to achieve a lot and provide the dealers with the best possible support. We are building on that, ”emphasizes Gosau.
There is a ‘Center of Excellence’ approach for cooperation within the group. In future, Sport 2000 will control collaboration in digitization projects, but also in winter sports on an international level. For example, a task force on digitization and e-commerce was set up to create synergies between the countries. The establishment of an international online platform is planned for mid-2021, from which customers can be forwarded easily and intuitively to the respective country platform. The winter sports business for the group, on the other hand, is driven centrally from Austria. “Since last season, a cross-border personal union under the direction of Category Management in Austria has been handling the winter business holistically on an international level,” explains Gosau. “The team’s valuable competencies also flow into the core markets of Sport 2000 GmbH, Germany, Switzerland and Benelux.” Further “Centers of Excellence” are planned for the future.
The retail formats of Sport 2000 are also set up and promoted centrally. Since the launch of the Absolute premium format two years ago, five Absolute Run and seven Absolute Teamsport stores have already been opened. An expansion to Hungary, Benelux and Switzerland is planned for the future. In addition, the launch of the international multi-category retail concept, which was finally developed a year ago, is on the agenda in France and Belgium in the summer and autumn.
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