Sport 2000 closed the 2021 financial year with record sales of €5.3 billion, confirming its position in sports retail in the DACH region. Now the sports retail group wants to become more visible worldwide as “One Sport 2000,” as the group announced at this year’s General Assembly. “The specialty sports retail industry must gain momentum and develop new approaches to remain successful in the future,“ said Margit Gosau, CEO of Sport 2000 International and Sport 2000 GmbH. Sport 2000 is thus consistently pushing the clear idea of creating a uniform overall presence for Sport 2000 in all countries. “It is oftentimes important to break away from old patterns to realize the big picture. We have recognized that we need to move even closer together as an international sports retail network to be perceived worldwide as One Sport 2000. This is the only way we can master upcoming challenges together and successfully move into the future of sports retailing,” Gosau explained. “With our new, international Welcome Home campaign and the global claim Home of Experts, we already took a first, important step towards One Sport 2000 in May 2022, positioning ourselves in all Sport 2000 countries with a uniform brand presence.” Further projects are planned for 2022 and 2023 to unite Sport 2000 across borders.
After two digital General Assemblies in 2020 and 2021, this year’s General Assembly was held face-to-face in Mainhausen, Germany. With 3,556 stores in 25 countries currently, Sport 2000 International generated gross retail sales of €5.3 billion in 2021. This corresponds to a sales growth of 22.5 percent. With HV Group as a new partner, Sport 2000 International is also expanding its position in international sports retail. In Madagascar and Mauritius, the focus is on building up quality sports retail with a total of seven Sport 2000 stores in the new Sport 2000 Multicategory format.
Sport 2000 International’s business vision was specifically successful in three countries, with Sport 2000 Germany, Sport 2000 Austria and Sport 2000 Switzerland confirming their leadership positions in the specialist sports retail market in the past financial year. Sport 2000 achieved gross external sales of €4.087 billion in the DACH region in 2021 with 1,454 partner companies and over 2,268 doors.
According to Gosau, one of the success factors is the clear focus on specialization. The establishment of the Absolute formats continues in international sports retail. In addition to the new Absolute Run and Absolute Teamsport stores that opened in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium, more are planned in Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary and Bulgaria. “The rapid, international expansion confirms that the Absolute formats are the future of sports retail,” Gosau said.
The pandemic years supported the further development of digital offerings. Accordingly, Sport 2000 also developed functional online solutions to link online and offline retail more closely during the global lockdowns. “Whether online or offline retail, both sales formats need strategic information management to operate efficiently,” Gosau said. “This summer, we will launch a joint Sport 2000 database, in which international POS data will be continuously updated and analyzed. This will enable us to react to trends and changes early and generate added value for our strategic partners.”
At this year’s General Assembly, Roland Felder, managing director of the Swiss Sport 2000 organization, was elected as a new member of the supervisory board of Sport 2000 International. He succeeds Hans-Hermann Deters, who has stepped down from the board after seven years, and joins chairman Dr. Holger Schwarting, Austria; vice-chairman Matthias Grevener, Germany; Marius Rovers, Netherlands; and Jean-Louis Parent, France.
