The Euro 2008 football championships were very successful for Intersport, the official sports shop for the event. Aside from providing strong visibility for the Intersport brand, they exceeded expectations by generating very strong sales of exclusive licensed products, replica shirts and other football products, mainly in the eight stadiums.
At the tournament sites and in stores all over Europe, Intersport’s retail sales of football products reached more than €200 million during the month of June alone, making company officials confident that they will reach the goal of raising Intersport’s total turnover in this segment to at least €850 million for the full year, 20 percent above the record level achieved with the FIFA World Cup in 2006.
Encouraged by the results, Europe’s biggest retail organization has already started discussions with other international sports federations to become associated with other big events of this kind. Intersport officials want to further refine the business model followed in the Euro 2008 by developing a wider range of exclusive licensed products linked to the events to be sold in the venues and in many of the 4,000-plus stores affiliated with Intersport around the world.
Intersport was the only sports retailer allowed to have a presence in the eight Austrian and Swiss football stadiums of the Euro 2008, in the local fan zones and in the 129 special public viewing areas set up in various cities and towns with the support of Coca-Cola in Austria and UBS in Switzerland. In addition, more than 1,200 Intersport stores in 26 countries had a special corner with replicas and other exclusive products related to the tournament.
One of the most intriguing and successful efforts deployed by Intersport for the Euro 2008 was a “quick response program” for fan items directly related to the teams playing each match. Since the teams qualified for the quarterfinals were only known two or three days in advance of each game, Intersport set up a system whereby the embroidery and printing of shirts in Romania and scarves in Germany and their shipment to the sites of the games was executed within 48 hours. The operation was repeated for the semifinals as well as the finals.
In many cases the items sold out very quickly. The Russian fans were clearly the best customers in the stadiums and fan zones. Every match in which Russia played triggered three times more sales per spectator than every other match. Besides the numerous Russian fans, also the Romanian, Croatian and Polish fans who flocked to the stadiums were particularly eager to show their support for their national teams. Surprised by their own victories, some apparently wealthy Russians were happy to fork out up to €1,000 for the Europass, the official ball of the Euro 2008, normally sold for €110, as the few remaining items were auctioned on the spot. Because of the nationalities of the fans, average sales per spectactor were higher than during the World Cup in Germany, where also many Chinese, Japanese and South American visitors attended. The sales in the Intersport superstores in Vienna (1,000 square meters) and Zurich (700 square meters) were also above expectations, in contrast with those in Basel superstore (700 square meters), where they suffered from bad weather and the disappointing results of the Swiss team.
On-site sales were also disappointing in most of the public viewing areas set up in the non-host Austrian and Swiss cities, most likely because they were not sufficiently promoted. On the other hand, Intersport retailers in some other countries rejoiced. At Intersport Espana, the difficult economic situation led to a single-digit decline in sales of football shoes and hardware during the month of June, but the victory of the Spanish team in the Euro 2008 tournament led to a more than fivefold increase in sales of Adidas’ official shirts, leading to a single-digit increase for the football category in general during the month.
Here again, Intersport’s quick response program, combined with its good relations with Adidas, allowed the retailer to receive an extra stock of 1,200 Spain shirts and 1,200 German shirts in time for the final, but it was not enough to respond to the demand in the stadium in Vienna. Intersport placed a large order with Adidas for the official matchball played in the Euro 2008 final that allowed it to obtain its delivery to the stores three weeks ahead of any other European retailers.
Intersport says it worked very well also with Nike and Puma, which sponsored many of the teams participating in the tournament. While Adidas certainly benefited a lot from the fact that two of its sponsored teams made it to the final match, Nike had a strong presence as well through the quarterfinals. Aided by a powerful marketing campaign, the swoosh achieved an estimated increase of more than 50 percent in the sell-out of its football products during the month of June in Europe.
As for UEFA, its total revenues from the Euro 2008 reached about €1.3 billion, 56 percent up from the revenues of the 2004 tournament played in Portugal. More than 60 percent of the revenues came from the sale of media rights, and another €370 million from sponsorships. Because of higher costs, the operating profit rose by only 5 percent to €700 million.
