We have already reported on A/S Adventure and Cabela's entering the French market, albeit more extensively in our Outdoor Industry Compass than in SGI Europe. We have also recently reported that Activa Capital investment fund is taking over control of Sport 2000 France. A series of more recent articles in sport-guide.com, the French internet-based information system, has pointed to some interesting new developments on the French sporting goods market.
Sport-guide cites, among other things, a study by Crédoc showing that 12 percent of the French population ? or about 6 million people ? bought sporting goods products exclusively through the internet in 2010, sharing the leadership in the market with toys.
There are no specific figures about the leading e-tailers in the sector, but Frédéric Tain, editor of sport-guide, feels that Décathlon was probably the largest one, followed perhaps at a distance by Made in Sport and a bunch of generalist discounters such as Cdiscount, Priceminister and Vente-privée. A survey showed that 15 percent of French internet users bought some clothing on the decathlon.fr website in the last six months, placing it among the five e-commerce leaders in the overall apparel sector.
Among the other major French sporting goods retailers, only Intersport has an e-commerce operation. Go Sport is expected to go online only in about three years' time. Tain says that most electronic sales of sporting goods in France go through relatively small specialist e-tailers and brick-and-mortar retailers that have launched their own websites. This is especially the case in the outdoor sector, where Au Vieux Campeur is going to join the likes of Espace Montagne by launching its own e-commerce operation for the first time.
Amazon.com opened a sporting goods page on its French website a few months ago, following similar moves in the U.K. and Germany. The American giant is not yet offering sporting goods on its new Italian website, which went online last November. Pixmania.com, a French-based e-commerce operator specializing in electronics that defines itself as ?the one-stop shop for great deals,? is launching a virtual sporting goods store in the first quarter with a declared ambition to become the leading e-tailer in Europe in the sector.
Sport-guide also reports that JD Sports Fashion has opened its first three stores in France under the name JD King of Trainers. The first one opened in the downtown area of Lille on Nov. 29, taking the place of a former store of Chausport, the French athletic footwear chain that the British retailer took over in May 2009. Two others were inaugurated just before Christmas in two shopping malls in the Paris and Lyon regions. More will follow depending on the results, which have been encouraging at the Lille venue.
The French JD stores carry mainly special make-ups of sports shoes by the major brands and accessories. They are mainly intended for high-traffic locations and addressed to young customers, where the smaller Chausport stores target mainly families in areas with a lower density of population. With a total of 78 stores, 16 of which were restyled in 2010, Chausport was expecting a sales increase of between 7 and 8 percent to €55 million for the past year.
Separately, another report by sport-guide says that Cabesto, the Oxylane Group's specialty brand for fishing tackle is speeding up the pace of new store openings from one every two years to one or two a year, with a preference for busy shopping districts. The French retailer is scheduled to open a free-standing Cabesto store in the shopping district of Cap Roussillon, near Rivesaltes in the southwest of France, in the spring, to be followed by others in Avignon and elsewhere. The shop will have a floor space of 2,200 square meters and has additional 300 m² of external exhibition space. Cabesto started operating in 2003 as a dedicated chain, separate from Décathlon, and the latest opening was in April 2010 in Mauguio, still in Southern France.
Meanwhile, the new management of Sport 2000 France is taking clearer contours under Activa Capital's control. Eight months after Marc Oursin replaced Jean-Paul Onillon at the helm of the French buying group, Frédéric Dekeyser has been appointed financial director and Marc Desoualhat will be in charge of development, procurement and marketing for non-mountain products. Like Dekeyser, Desoualhat is a newcomer. He was previously in charge of the purchase of electrical household equipment for Carrefour and has already worked as an auditor for Sport 2000. His audit is scheduled to lead to the closure of six points of sale in January and the sale of other stores, according to sport-guide.
Francis Charbonnel has retained his job as head of mountain products and will work out of Chambéry, in the French Alps, to better service the group's members. Sport 2000's executive committee will be streamlined from 10 people to four and will be composed of Oursin, Desoualhat, Charbonnel and Dekeyser.
In the management shake-up, Chrystelle Gauthier has kept her job as head of procurement for non-mountain products and continues to oversee negotiations, for the whole group, with International Sports Retail Development, the procurement unit Sport 2000 set up with Go Sport. Vrej Jeloyan also remains in charge of the unit Mondovélo.
