Following the lead of Sport 2000 Germany, which has many retail members specializing in the running and outdoor sectors, Sport Alliance, the Italian licensee of Sport 2000 International, has set up three “sub-buying groups” for outdoor & ski, running and cycling as part of a new category management program.
Sport Alliance, which coordinates purchases and marketing programs for 267 affiliated stores, wants to set itself apart in the more lifestyle-oriented Italian sports market as a specialist in performance sports. The buying group is equally owned by two big Italian sporting goods retailers, Sportler and Sportland.
In the running segment, Sport Alliance has special deals for its retail members with Hoka One One, Asics, Brooks and New Balance. It has been the exclusive distributor of On Running in Italy for more than five years.
The group signed up a specialist running retailing in Milan, Koala Sport, in July. For its part, Sportland is planning to open next spring a pilot specialty running store in a historical landmark building in downtown Milan next spring. Measuring 600 square meters, it will be called Why Run.
Sport Alliance is considering the launch of an Absolute Run concept in Italy by the end of next year, inspired by the concept that has already been tested by Sport 2000 in Germany.
Sport Alliance also wants to be a major player in the outdoor & ski segment.More than 15 retail accounts affiliated with Sport Alliance generate nearly 20 percent of their annual turnover from outdoor and ski products. In this segment, Sport Alliance has already struck special deals with the Tecnica Group and other companies, and it is working on others.
To strengthen its position in the outdoor sector, Sport Alliance last month signed a contract to be the exclusive Italian distributor of Lowe Alpine and Rab, the outdoor brands of the British Equip Outdoor group, starting with the next spring/summer season. It will be able to offer their products to its affiliated retail members under special conditions and make them available to other Italian retailers like any other wholesaler.
Following the appointment two years ago of Alessandro Riva, a former manager at Intersport Italia, as its sales and marketing manager, Sport Alliance has also developed a new web store, called sport2000.it, that will be launched at the end of this month to promote its image as a specialist in performance sports. It will provide product information for the brands of Tecnica and other companies, and it will feature a store locator. There is a plan to develop it into an internet marketplace for many brands.
