Outdoor and sports retailer XXL has had two long, harsh years. But in 2025, CEO Freddy Sobin believes, there will be a change.
Before Christmas, British stake owner Frasers Group wanted to buy the whole of XXL, which was having trouble generating profits. But sales during Christmas saved the Q4 result for 2024. It was XXL’s first positive quarterly result since March 2023. At the start of the new year, the 86-store retail group also got the go-ahead from its major shareholders, including UK-based Frasers, to carry out a rights issue that would raise NOK 600 million (€60m).
But what’s in store for XXL in 2025? SGI Europe of course wants to know. Here’s what CEO Freddy Sobin tells us about the company’s future.
SGI Europe: It’s been a turbulent time for you since the fall of 2024.
Sobin: There’s no denying that 2024 was a challenging year. But if you look at the year quarter by quarter, you’ll see a continuous recovery in sales, which is the most important thing. We reached index 100 in November and ended the year with index 101 in December – the first growth for XXL since March 2023. Moreover, in January we achieved 4.4 percent growth. We therefore believe that the positive trend is clear, even though it’s taken time for us to get here. However, when you work in the sports industry as we do, you know that there are long lead times to change a range, which was part of our transition plan. AW 2024 is the first season that’s in line with the new plan. We now see that it’s starting to work and that we’re on our way back.
So how do things look for XXL in 2025?
A lot better than they have for a long time. In January, as I said, we saw growth of over 4 percent, so we’re hopefully now on the way back and even stronger. I clearly feel that the entire organization is getting both energy and motivation from seeing the turnaround develop, which is important. We now also have 4.3 million members in our modernized customer club since we relaunched it in October 2023, which is proof that customers see value in it. Sales of our own brands have increased by 6.1 percentage points in the last quarter, which strengthens both their entry prices and their profit margins.
Our absolute ambition is for 2025 to be the year we return to growth. We’re once again aiming to show that we’re the leader in the Nordics. So, in answer to your question, we have a positive outlook on 2025!
Within your change strategy, you’ve worked a lot on changing your physical stores. What does the result look like in your stores? Will the new look be ready for all stores next year?
No, it won’t. A good retailer will always continuously optimize its store portfolio. This is partly because some stores no longer have a strong enough location while other stores are too big. These we need to relocate. Others don’t have a rent that’s relevant. When we can’t agree with the landlord on the rent, we’ll move the stores.
You recently had a premiere for a redesigned and relocated store in Kungens Kurva, in southern Stockholm. This is a new location.
Yes. We moved that store to a stronger location within the shopping center. It already had an extra focus on ice hockey, but now it has an even larger range within the segment. Linked to this store, we already have, among other things, a major collaboration with Södertälje SK [a major club in the highest and second-highest league in Sweden for men and women]. With that store we’ll try to increase our share of team sales even more with more local clubs.
Could you give us some other concrete examples for 2025?
We’re opening a new store in Trollhättan in April of this year. That’ll be our 86th store in the Nordic region, and it’ll be located in Överby Handelsplats, where all our competitors are already located. For XXL, though, this has been a blank spot.
Trollhättan is quite close to Norway. Are there thoughts of cross-border trade?
The location allows us to reach several new customer groups. On the one hand, it’s on the way up to the mountains for residents of the West Coast and Gothenburg. It’s also close to the Norwegian border, with many Norwegians passing through. We’ve long wanted to establish ourselves there, and when the right opportunity came up, we were quick to seize it. We’re constantly looking for new opportunities to establish more stores.
You say that XXL is doing better and better as a company and has achieved a sales increase of 4 percent. How will 2025 develop financially?
We’re aiming for growth without giving further details about it. We’re still focused on strengthening our stores in several ways: We’re reducing floor space, continue to move stores, and are also giving our stores a better layout, which provides the customer with a better shopping experience. In addition, in 2025 we’ll be working to modernize the media mix. We’ll be moving towards even more digital media and making our messages more relevant to our customers. In addition, we’ll be making our customer club even better and bigger. We already have 4.3 million members, and it’ll grow even more. And our customers will get even more value for their money with us.
In a year, how will XXL be doing?
Because we’re listed, we don’t predict in terms of numbers. But I can say that even though we live in a volatile world, we focus on what we can control and look positively at the future.
How high are you aiming?
The goal is to become the market leader by being the sports operator with the strongest and broadest offer and thus become the obvious destination for the customer.
