While expanding in Norway and entering the market of Taiwan (see our previous issue), Intersport International Corp. (IIC) is making a bold move to turn around its ailing operations in the U.K. and preparing to enter the market of Portugal, which has been a white spot for the group in Europe for far too long.
IIC's board of management has accepted an application by its Dutch licensee, Euretco, to form a joint venture with Intersport's biggest retail member in the U.K., DW Sports, to take over the British Intersport license from Associated Independent Stores (AIS), a diversified buying group which has held it for close to ten years – with mixed fortunes in a difficult market. Elverys, the sub-licensee of Intersport U.K. for Ireland, has been invited to join the joint venture, which should become operational by the middle of next year.
In addition to its gyms, DW Sports operates about 80 of the 230-plus retail stores affiliated with Intersport U.K., and it has accepted in principle to consider the idea of rebranding them as Intersport. Steve Evers, who became the new chief executive of IIC late last year, worked previously for Euretco. While preserving a lot of freedom, like some of the 300-odd retail members of Euretco, Elverys has shown a strong commitment to Intersport, implementing its 2.0 multi-channel retailing concept.
Euretco has presented a rather flexible and reasonable five-year business plan for the development of Intersport U.K., introducing a store franchising model for buying retail members that would not prevent them from keeping a certain independence.
The board of IIC has also given the license for the Portuguese market to Intersport España, which has finally decided to enter the market in one way or another, after many years of hesitation. Observers feel that it is a logical move following the establishment early last year of the Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG) as a joint venture among JD Sports Fashion and the Sprinter and Sport Zone retail chains, controlled by the rapidly expanding British retail group.
Intersport España has started to approach several small retail chains in Portugal, without excluding the possibility that some of the Spanish retail members will open stores in the country. The voluntary group had decided in principle to open the first Intersport stores in Portugal by the end of next year, but it will start to have presence in the country earlier through Intersport's global internet platform.
According to Evers, Intersport France may collaborate in the Portuguese project, at least in terms of advice, because of its very successful record of growth in the face of Decathlon's dominance of the market. Decathlon is also the biggest player in the Spanish and Portuguese sporting goods markets.
Intersport France has developed its own online retailing solution, which includes a ship-from-store function, and Evers believes in the advantages that national Intersport organizations can derive from joining forces and sharing technologies thanks to the diversity of their business models.
IIC decided on a stronger strategic alignment at its annual general meeting, held in Copenhagen on Sept. 6, where the delegates of the national organizations approved all the statutory motions and elected a new member of the board, Rick White, to take the place of Evers. White, who represents the group's big Canadian licensee, Canadian Tire, will basically oversee Intersport's expansion outside Europe.
Jussi Mikkola is still chairing IIC's board, with Corinne Gensollen of Intersport France serving as vice chairwoman. They and another member of the board, Ignasi Puig of Intersport España, were re-elected for another term of three years. Mathias Boenke of Germany was elected to serve on the board until the 2021 general meeting.
