The Sport 2000 brand name is owned by French, German and Austrian shareholders, with Sports Direct still holding a small minority stake. However, only the German shareholder, the ANWR Group, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in style, although the brand was first launched by three French football players in 1966.
Besides numerous digital activations through the internet, Sport 2000 Deutschland is celebrating it through videos, commercial TV and radio spots and banners on the retail members' home pages, point-of-sale displays, postings on Facebook and social networks and the publication of seven million copies of a flyer that is being distributed to all its database of core customers and through the operators of its 900-plus affiliated stores.
The campaign is supporting numerous sales promotions including the sale of ten jerseys featuring the names of leading team sports club and the Sport 2000 logo to more than 30,000 kids in Germany at a price of €99 each.
Meanwhile, like their colleagues in France, several members of the German Sport 2000 group are modernizing their stores. They have installed 70 large video screens, with 80 more due to follow soon. Sport 2000 is also recommending the installation of four variants of “sneaker zones,” offering up to 52 shoe styles by the two major sports brands for the more lifestyle-oriented customers.
In France, a new store format of Sport 2000 being tested at three locations makes a clear separation between brands and products meant for participation in sports activities and those that are more lifestyle-oriented.
In Germany, about 950 employees from more than 400 stores attended a presentation of future projects at the house fair of Sport 2000, held in Mainhausen between July 30 and Aug. 2. The themes included the intelligent use of big data to influence the customers' purchasing decisions and to determine future retail strategies.
As previously reported, Sport 2000 has enjoyed a major expansion of its membership and its turnover in Germany by introducing specific formats for outdoor and running specialists. As shown in our retail charts in this issue, this allowed it to improve its market share in the country.
The voluntary group is also promoting a “healthy way” of living, with special clinics for the store personnel aimed at recommending the right products to customers to improve their health conditions and reduce the stress factor. About 60 affiliated retailers have participated in the clinics so far.
