Intersport International Corp. (IIC) is entering a new continent with the signing of a licensing agreement for the Chilean market with a local retailer, Calzados La Otra Opcion, based in Santiago de Chile. IIC is already present in Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.
All the 20 sports stores operated by the new partner in Chile will be converted from the La Otra Opcion (=The Other Option) banner to the Intersport banner and format by the end of 2016. The network should be expanded to more than 40 stores by 2020.
Owned by Cristian Cordova, who will become managing director of Intersport Chile, the company entered the sporting goods retail business in 2011 with sports shoes, and then added clothing and equipment. La Otra Opcion also has a web store. The 20 sporting goods stores range in size between 200 and 1,400 square meters. They are located in six cities and employ more than 200 people.
The Chilean sporting goods market is estimated at about $880 million a year, with annual growth of arount 1.5 percent. Fitness, running and outdoor sports are said to be on the rise in Chile, along with healthy lifestyles. The two major competitors of La Otra Opcion are two local chains of multi-sport stores, Sparta and Belsport. Each of them has about 20 stores, but they are relatively small, with surfaces of around 200-300 square meters, and future Intersport stores will be in the 600-1,000-m² range.
La Otra Opcion has its own private label of sports shoes, called Spitfire. It will be replaced by Intersport's own private labels and by its special make-ups with major sports brands. IIC will contribute its private labels, its experience in category management and its services.
Intersport Chile will serve as a showcase for IIC's planned further expansion in South America, where Decathlon has big plans. IIC is understood to be in contact already with at least another major sporting goods retail chain in the region.
