In January, when we last checked in with the Spanish multichannel sports e-tailer, Deporvillage had wrapped up an 11th consecutive year of growth. Annual revenues for 2021 were up year-on-year by 40 percent. Things have now changed.
Sales for the first and now the second quarter have been flat with a slight tendency to dip, according to CEO Xavier Pladellorens. “It’s tough not to grow,” he explains to CMDsport, “but the previous rises have been extraordinary.”
Two quarters of flat sales are leading the company to revise its full-year sales target, previously set at €200 million. The thinking now is that Deporvillage might be able to generate a figure between that and last year’s €160 million. Pladellorens acknowledges, however, that uncertainties in the economy carry over into forecasts. At the same time, he believes that those same uncertainties could restore sport to its pandemic role of escape valve for the public and therefore end up boosting sales.
The tallest hurdle is not procurement, as supply-chain delays have been getting shorter, but demand. And the greatest shortfall in demand has come in cycling, especially low-cost bikes. Demand has been most brisk for e-bikes. The biggest rises, meanwhile, have been in outdoor and running.
A final observation from Pladellorens: customers have begun a shift away from e-commerce and back towards brick-and-mortar.
