Sport 2000 Germany raised its sales of ski helmets, too. Sales of helmets doubled compared with last winter. Andreas Rudolf, one of Sport 2000’s managing directors, predicted, however, that big discount food chains such as Aldi and Lidl will be ready to join the “helmet party” next autumn by adding a large volume of helmets to the market and by pulverizing the prices.
Overall, the affiliated retailers managed to increase their sales by 5.8 percent to €1.3 billion in 2008. In the same year, the number of members decreased by 21 to 784, while the number of shops jumped by 64 to 1,109. Sales projections for this year are softer: Increases at the retail level may be between 1 and 3 percent.
Positive development may come this year from investments in new types of stores: The first so-called flagship store format of Sport 2000, i.e. a franchised store larger than 800 square meters, will open in Landsberg outside Munich in April. The current year shall also see the opening in Germany of a first series of S2 stores, inspired by a model that the French Sport 2000 has adopted for sport-oriented lifestyle footwear.
Sport 2000 will be giving its affiliated retailers a financial boost in the next few – possibly difficult – months. The head office is paying members an amount equal to their capital within the organization, which is a GmbH, a limited liability company under German law. According to Jens Fischer, the company’s other managing director, the transaction is worth more than €3 million. On top of that, the headquarters already paid a bonus on its earnings to its members’ share last autumn, something that the retailers usually don’t not receive until March.
The German section of Sport 2000 is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year by launching a big charity campaign to benefit an SOS Kinderdorf (“SOS children’s village,” a German NGO) in Mombasa, Kenya. The head office will donate a high six-digit figure to the project in Africa. A part of the money that the suppliers usually contribute to important marketing activities will be part of this donation as well.
Sport 2000’s parent company, Ariston-Nord-West-Ring, reported good results for 2008, fueled more by its sports operations than by its core shoe business: Its net revenues grew by €54 million to €5.54 billion. Without mentioning absolute figures, the shoe division slipped by 0.7 percent while sports reported a strong 14 percent growth. ANWR’s banks increased their turnover by 5.8 percent.
