Intersport Deutschland CFO on AI strategy and the future of specialist retail

Artificial intelligence is transforming the sporting goods industry far beyond simple efficiency gains. The current debate ranges from forecasting and assortment management to radically new customer journeys. What is becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the real challenge is not the technology itself, but the ability to connect the different strategic levers. In the AI era, data, planning and customer experience can no longer be viewed in isolation. Companies that use AI strategically are redefining value creation for brands, retail and consumers alike.

SGI Europe examines this transformation from multiple perspectives, from physical retail to broader market structures. As one of the central players in the European sporting goods market, Intersport Germany is actively engaging with this integration process.

In this interview, Thomas Storck, CFO and Deputy Chairman of Intersport Deutschland eG, explains why AI is far more than an IT project, how specialist retail can maintain its role as a “place of trust” in a digitally pre-structured world, and why the buying group joined the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI) in Heilbronn, alongside organizations such as Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart.

Key takeaways: three core insights from Intersport CFO Thomas Storck on AI transformation

1. AI is an organizational change project, not just a tool. The real leverage does not lie in experimenting with isolated use cases, but in consistently scaling AI across the value chain. This requires consolidated data structures (e.g. microservices) and enabling employees through programs such as “AI Enabler” to apply AI “from within” the organization.

2. Efficiency secures today. Personalization secures tomorrow. A modern CFO must operate on two levels simultaneously. In the short term, AI delivers measurable value through process automation and forecasting quality. Mid- to long-term, however, it becomes a strategic growth driver for radically personalized customer experiences and more precise advisory.

3. The physical store becomes the corrective to digital pre-selection. The more digital assistants and AI systems pre-structure and curate purchasing decisions, the more important physical retail becomes. Since bodies remain individual and sporting goods remain physical products, the store evolves into an indispensable place for final reassurance, human expertise and trust. 

SGI Europe: Mr Storck, many companies are experimenting with AI but struggle to scale beyond isolated pilots. Where do you see the biggest levers at Intersport for turning use cases into real, measurable value creation?

Thomas Storck: ”For us, the biggest lever lies in the consistent integration of AI across the value chain, wherever data is central, such as assortment planning, forecasting, and product data quality. We deliberately start with pilot projects, but structure them in a way that allows them to be transferable and scalable afterward.

“At the same time, we are advancing the topic organizationally: through our AI Enabler Program, we empower employees within the specialist departments to identify and implement their own use cases. The decisive factor is always measurable value, for efficiency, better decision-making, and an improved customer experience.

”It also benefits us that we have consolidated our data structures and data pools, largely avoided standard software in many areas, and built our applications on a microservices architecture. Both are essential prerequisites for using AI efficiently and at scale.

As CFO, your perspective is naturally driven by numbers. Where is the current focus of your AI strategy: efficiency gains and cost reductions in administration and logistics, or radically personalized shopping experiences designed to increase revenue?

”Both aspects are important and interconnected, albeit with different time horizons. And in the AI era, a CFO should keep both dimensions in view. In the short term, we primarily use AI for efficiency and better processes, for example in forecasting or product content. Mid- and long-term, however, it becomes a strategic lever for growth through improved, personalized customer experiences. Our approach is therefore twofold: achieving rapid impact today through efficiency and quality improvements while simultaneously investing in applications that sustainably evolve advisory, product presentation, and assortment decisions.

And how do you integrate artificial intelligence concretely into Intersport’s organization, into processes, decision-making logic, and products?

”For us, the key is not to view AI as a separate solution, but to integrate it deeply into processes, decision-making logic, and products. The central success factor here is the organization itself: through our AI Enabler Program, we empower all business units to apply AI independently “from within”. In this way, we anchor AI broadly throughout the company, not only technologically, but also in everyday operations.

How will you integrate AI into physical retail stores?

”In physical retail, we primarily see AI as a support tool for our retailers, with the goal of further improving availability, advisory, and service quality. This includes better forecasting and product data, as well as digital tools that support employees in delivering more precise advisory, extending even to “agentic advisors”. What matters is this: AI complements personal expertise and experience in-store, it does not replace them.

Intersport has joined IPAI in Heilbronn. What does the German AI ecosystem offer a sporting goods retailer that global players cannot replicate?

”Through IPAI, we gain access to a strong network connecting research and industry in order to further develop AI applications in a practical way and learn from one another. For us, the decisive factor is translating potential into measurable value for our retailers more quickly.

AI tools such as ChatGPT are becoming personal concierges: they curate, recommend, and may eventually trigger transactions themselves. What concrete measures is Intersport taking to remain relevant as a retailer within this new logic?

”We see that AI assistants will increasingly curate and partially initiate transactions in the future. We remain relevant by strengthening our data and assortment quality while continuously evolving advisory and customer experience, both digitally and physically. We closely monitor new AI-driven interaction models. Our ambition is to remain a reliable partner for inspiration, advisory, and trust, regardless of channel. And we should not forget: our sporting goods themselves are not digital.

And where do physical stores fit into this development? Where do you see the structural strengths of specialist retail in a world where pre-selection is increasingly LLM-driven and potentially leads directly into transactions?

”The strength of specialist retail lies wherever technology alone is insufficient: personal advisory, contextual understanding, and responsibility. The fact is that no body and no foot is the same as another. AI can support selection and information very effectively, but the final assessment and decision remain with trained human experts. As a result, the store becomes even more important in a digitally pre-structured world: as a place for orientation, reassurance, and experience. In other words, a place of trust. Ultimately, that is what the Intersport brand stands for.

And yet AI will increasingly become the intelligence closest to the customer, raising the question: who will control demand in the future — brands, retailers, or the digital assistant itself? And what role will social media and influencers play here?

”AI will increasingly pre-structure the customer journey because it curates information and filters options. But even for AI, there will never be only one correct answer to a question. Demand control will therefore not rest with a single player. It will remain an interaction between brands, retail, platforms, and impulses from social media. And naturally also with whoever controls physical distribution. What matters is how visible and understandable offers are within these systems, and how trustworthy they are perceived to be.

Which leads to the question of the greater current challenge: the technological integration of AI or the transformation of decision-making processes and responsibilities within organizations?

”Both are relevant, but from our perspective, the greater challenge lies in organizational and cultural transformation. Many technologies are already available; AI only becomes effective when data quality is right, systems are meaningfully connected, and, most importantly, when employees can confidently integrate these tools into their daily work. Ultimately, this is about willingness, capabilities, role definitions, and collaboration.

Staying with decision-making for a moment: in a world increasingly pre-structured by AI systems, what will matter more in the long term, data ownership, brand strength, or depth of system integration?

”For us, the foundation is data quality and data availability, without them, AI remains ineffective. Building on this, the depth of system integration determines whether potential can actually be scaled. Brand strength acts as the differentiator because it influences trust and selection. In short: data is the foundation, integration is the lever, brand is the differentiation.

AI is fueled by data and information from all of us. Does this not also create an opportunity to engage far more deeply with the “users”, the people themselves? How they want to shop, how they want to be advised?

”Absolutely. And that represents a major opportunity. AI helps us better understand customer needs and purchasing patterns and derive better services and advisory from them, digitally as well as in-store. The goal is to consistently translate this knowledge into more relevant and more individual customer experiences.