Euro Family, an informal consortium of leading outdoor specialist retailers, has decided to adopt two joint private labels, replacing in due time some or all of their existing private brands. The partnership will enable them to reduce costs through economies of scale, working with fewer but stronger private brands that will be widely recognized across their influential network.
Euro Family links major outdoor retailers in various countries including the biggest outdoor retailers in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands – Globetrotter, Transa and Bever Zwerfsport. Other members of the club are Sportler in Italy, Cotswold in the U.K. and three German general retailers, Sport Breuninger, Engelhorn Sports and Förg, which have sizeable outdoor departments.
The private brands chosen for this new initiative are Kaïkialla and Meru, covering a full range of outdoor products including clothing, footwear, gloves, tents and other types of equipment and accessories. Positioned in a higher segment of the market, Kaïkialla will become available in the participating stores this coming Fall. Carrying lower prices but still offering a high level of quality, Meru is a brand already sold in some of Euro Family’s stores.
These retailers have been exchanging information on the market and on their relations with major suppliers for nearly ten years, helping them to improve purchasing conditions. For the past five years they have been reserving their own private room at the OutDoor fair in Friedrichshafen. The room has now become also a showroom for these two international collections of private label products, which are going to be sold in all their stores and advertised in their catalogs.
It has taken a long time to develop the two product lines in a way that would be acceptable to all the companies involved. Together, the members of Euro Family already have more than ten individual private labels of their own, representing at the most 15 or 20 percent of their sales. The two new common brands should generate good margins, helping to offset cost increases being faced by all the manufacturers in the sector, but officials associated with the project insist that the members of this club intend to continue to work primarily with the well-established brands (more in THE COMPASS).
