Private Sport Shop CEO Sébastien Rohart reveals the secrets behind the growth of the sporting goods giant and how the company will adapt to a fast-changing market.
By the time Sébastien Rohart became CEO of Private Sport Shop in June 2020, the company was already the leading private sales club specializing in sporting goods. It had earned that standing in just ten years.
Now, the French manager aims to lead the company’s transformation from a flash sales platform into the go-to site for full-price specialist sports products by the world’s biggest brands.
He intends to build loyalty among customers, develop trust with brands, and continue to surf the wave of digital development.
Indeed, these strategic pillars have long been key to Private Sport Shop’s growth.
“We didn’t reach 14m members with only 200 employees from nowhere,” Rohart told SGI Europe. “The company has been able to sense where the market is going and change with the times.”
Medium-term goals – as well as a long-term vision – have helped achieve rapid growth. “In e-commerce, a strategy should be valid for only three years because the industry is changing so fast,” Rohart said.
“Actually, you are lucky if it is still valid after six months,” he added.
The rise of a market heavyweight
Private Sport Shop (PSS) works by purchasing excess inventory, much of which would otherwise be destroyed, from more than 3,000 brands in Europe covering about one hundred different sports. Subsequently, it offers it to 14 million private members through multiple online and digital channels at deeply discounted prices of up to 80 percent.
Launched in 2011, the company has grown 40 percent annually over the last five years. It made €133 million in revenues in FY2020, placing it in SGI’s ranking for the largest ten e-commerce sports shops two years in a row.
Now, PSS seeks to triple revenue over the next four years, to €300-400 million by 2025. In a significant break for the company, it will begin an official sales partnership with Nike from 23 October.
The role of consumer traffic
Impressive consumer traffic has fueled growth. “We are in the top 10 sports sites for internet traffic, and it really does transform into sales,” Rohart said. “We spend very little on [boosting out visibility on] Google. We have so much credibility that the customers come to us.”
The company has focussed on specific target consumer groups rather than trying to be everything to everybody. It has tirelessly cultivated ties with such consumers, Rohart said. “Our customers are sports fans who are willing to invest, who are serious about sports whether it be a passion or activity.”
“At PSS, we don’t talk about B2C,” he added. “We speak about B2S – ‘business to sports fans.’”
At the same time, the company has expanded its customer pool by offering a broad range of specialist products. “We are the only player in Europe that can sell track and field shoes, equestrian airbags and avalanche kits,” Rohart claimed.
Greeted with a steady flow of enticing deals, customers have kept coming back. 76 percent of PSS’s clients arrive online to browse rather than intending to purchase specific items, Rohart said. “Every morning of every week, we offer visitors a surprise item, and it has given the site a bit of magic. We have a very impressive visit ratio per member.”
Winning brand loyalty
Meanwhile, the company has patiently courted those brands seeking to shift excess stock. While the industry’s big beasts are often picky about which companies they partner with, PSS has worked hard to win them over. “We see brands as customers. We need to convince them to sell to us,” Rohart said.
The platform’s impressive traffic data has helped persuade them.
And PSS’s mastery of digital media kept driving consumer traffic. The platform has 1.6m fans on Instagram and Facebook alone, and its dedicated app, launched in 2016, accounts for 50 percent of traffic and orders.
“We understood quicker than many other players the importance of apps,” Rohart said. “Harnessing the power of digital and flash sales together was really innovative. We were way ahead of many distributors and sports brands themselves.”
The bellwether company continues to transform
None of PSS’s achievements would have been possible without the foresight exhibited by its managers. As Rohart puts it: “Prescience and an ability to quickly adapt have been key to growth,” he added.
“Ten years ago, we never thought that the sports industry would become a fashion activity,” Rohart said. “Who would have thought a decade ago that football clubs would produce a new jersey every year?”
PSS is shifting from a flash-sales-oriented model to one based on trading full-price seasonal products in its latest ongoing transformation. This mirrors a broader emerging consumer shift away from fast fashion towards more carefully considered purchases.
“The flash sales model is no longer strategically sustainable, especially not in an eco-friendly world,” Rohart said. Once again, brands are willing to use PSS as a distribution channel for full-price seasonal products because of the quality of the platform’s traffic, he added.
PSS’s sales platform is divided into ”The Shop,” dedicated to full-price seasonal products, and “Private Sales,” the flash sales channel. Some brands, including Under Armour, operate on both sides of the site, while others appear only on one channel.
While flash sales currently make up slightly under 90 percent of total sales, that number could descend well below the 50 percent mark within four years, Rohart predicted. “The flash sales side of the business will undoubtedly remain a significant part of the mix, but it will not be as big as it is now,” he qualified.
A new venture
Rohart revealed that the company also plans to roll out reconditioned products such as digital cameras and sports hardware – a potentially huge sale opportunity as the global green transition gains traction.
To realize these changes, PSS will need to update its highly specialized workforce frequently, Rohart said.
This recruitment strategy, Rohart said, is nothing new. “When we begin selling equestrian products, we take on equestrian experts. When we bring in high-end skiing gear, we bring in skiing experts. Until recently, we didn’t have anybody buying in Germany, so we hired German natives to speak with brands and customers.”
“Unlike bankers, we don’t ask you to sign up if you’re not an expert in the field. If you consider our customers’ expertise, it’s clear we also need experts at our end to interact with them.”
Considering its record of spotting trends early, competitors will undoubtedly keep a watchful eye on PSS’s next moves.
