Effective Jan. 1, 34 retail members of Fair Play, the international sports buying group controlled by Garant Schuh + Mode, joined Sport 2000 Germany as new members. As of Jan. 18, 40 retailers had changed sides. This move came after Sport 2000's parent company, ANWR, acquired last May a vast majority of Garant, creating Europe's largest buying organization for shoe retailers. Only a couple of other German Fair Play members, mainly shoe retailers with a good offer of sports shoes, have decided, as of now, to remain under the helm of Garant.
According to Andreas Rudolf, managing director of Sport 2000 Deutschland, all the new members are pure sporting goods retailers or shoe retailers with a clear sportive statement in their offers, which have to comprise also apparel and equipment. Of the 74 original German Fair Play retailers as of Dec. 31, 20 to 25 more of them could be candidates for Sport 2000, according to Rudolf, based on their quality and sports orientation. Size isn't a determining criterion, but Rudolf is happy that the members are neither super-big shoe stores, nor extremely tiny shops with annual orders of less than €100,000 to €150,000.
As of now, only German Fair Play retailers have made the switch. None of the Swiss Fair Play retailers are involved even though Sport 2000 Switzerland is affiliated with the German section, as they operate quite independently. Rudolf said that in Switzerland things still have to be sorted out; currently 74 retailers enjoy a double membership in both Sport 2000 and Fair Play.
Already since last summer, Fair Play retailers have had access to some offers of Sport 2000 including exclusive brands, order shows and training programs provided by the headquarters in Mainhausen. The 34 new members now have access to the full range of services provided by Sport 2000.
In a sneak preview, ANWR has put out a few figures on the group's performance during 2010. The entire business volume, including financial services for its own buying groups and third parties (such as Vedes, the big cooperative of toy retailers) increased by roughly 20 percent to €7 billion. This figure does not include BAG, an alliance of bookstores, which was acquired in spring 2010, but it does comprise the centralized invoicing of Garant.
Sport 2000's centralized invoicing for sports retailers in Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg grew by 7.4 percent to €580 million. The attentive reader may remember that the comparable figure given for 2009 was €613.2 million (SGI Europe Vol. 12, issue 5+6). This figure, however, comprised the centralized invoicing done for sports shoes on behalf of Sport 2000's sister company, ANWR Schuh, the buying group of shoe retailers. The 2010 figures apparently exclude this volume.
According to initial estimates, the Sport 2000 members increased their retail sales by 10.3 percent from roughly €1.4 billion in 2009 (more detailed information in the last issue of Shoe Intelligence).
