Forum Sport, which operates under the Forum Sport and Dooers banners, generated a 5 percent year-on-year rise in sales during the first five months of its current financial year, running from Feb. 1 to June 30. Speaking with CMDsport, the Spanish retailer’s Chief Executive, Diego Llorente, has attributed the near entirety of the rise to online sales, which were up 25 percent. Brick-and-mortar sales were up as well but by a mere 0.2 percent.
Llorente is therefore “moderately optimistic” that his company will hit its FY sales target of €124 million (VAT excluded). This would approximate the total for FY 2019/20. But what has produced the online boost?
Llorente sees three causes: first, a new computer system, which has optimized the management of omnichannel sales; second, streamlined investment in digital price management, which is enabling Forum Sport to “generate better margins and thereby increase our sales”; third, increased inventory of the key items under the omnichannel management, which has made them deliverable in 24 hours and thereby raised the conversion rate.
By segment, year-on-year sales growth was greatest in football (+22%), fashion (textiles and footwear combined: +8%), mountain sports (+6%) and running (+5%). Declines occurred in cycling (-3.6%) and fitness training (-2%).
Plans announced in May to open two stores, one each under the Dooers and Fórum Sport banners, have been postponed to next year. The company has been struggling to find locations – in Madrid and Barcelona – that meet both its store criteria and its budgetary limits. “Prices have soared again,” he says. “We must open profitable stores, and if it can’t be done, we won’t do it.” That said, the company is “very satisfied” with the store opened in May of last year in Bilbao.
As for the supply chain, “our relations with the big brands” – Adidas, Nike, Puma – “are better than ever,” says Llorente. Their service, he continues, “has infinitely improved, especially since we took delivery of the collections for spring/summer 2023.”
