Last Sunday’s victory of Rafael Nadal in the men’s finals of the Roland Garros tennis tournament in Paris is expected to give a new impulse to the brand globally and in Spain, where the French tennis brand has already reached the #1 spot in value. Another Spanish tennis champion who played against Nadal in the semi-finals, Carlos Moya, won the Paris Open in 1998 with a Babolat racquet.
Surveys show that Babolat has also reached the leadership in Italy and Belgium, and that it has improved its market position in Austria, where it ranks as #3. It continues to grow in the USA, where it sells its products only in the specialty store circuit. Its sales of tennis racquets in that country have grown from about 100,000 to 150,000 annually.
For its financial year ending next Aug. 30, the French company has budgeted a sales increase of only 5-7 percent, after the 24 percent sales increase obtained in the previous one, where it reached a level of €85 million. The number of tennis racquets sold jumped to nearly one million units from 750,000 in 2004/05, representing one-half of the total turnover. Furthermore the company sold a total of 120,000 badminton racquets, which represent a new focus of development.
Sales increases are also being recorded in the areas of footwear and apparel, and Babolat is launching a new technology for tennis shoes in partnership with Michelin this year. Strong sales gains are being registered in Eastern Europe. Last December, Babolat appointed a new country manager for Germany, Helmut Leick, to give a new impulse to its sales in that market.
