Like Intersport Germnay, which reported its main figures last December, the German retail organization of Sport 2000 could report on a good year at the Ispo show. In 2010, the number of its affiliated retailers soared from 793 to 825 including operations of this buying group in Switzerland and Luxembourg, but excluding the German Garant/Fair Play section, where 38 retailers had switched to Sport 2000 last Jan. 31. The total number of affiliated points of sale went up from 1,113 to 1,151 and their total sales surface went up from 420,000 to 454,000 square meters in the same period.
Centralized invoicing increased by 7.4 percent to €660.3 million with the inclusion of sports shoes and other products ordered for the shoe retailers affiliated with ANWR, parent company of Sport 2000 Germany and majority shareholder of Garant.
At the retail level, the members' sales increased by €132 million to €1.398 billion after VAT. Sales were lower than in the previous year in the months of January and April, but increases of more than 20 percent were recorded year-on-year in November and December
At the end of last year, the Sport 2000 network in Germany comprised 931 generalist sports retailers, 104 outdoor specialists, 78 team sports specialists and 56 specialty running shops. The latter are part of the dynamic LEX group, which is not exclusively open to Sport 2000 members and held its buying days before Ispo.
By category, the Sport 2000 retailers enjoyed growth in basically all product ranges led by alpine ski boots (+26%), alpine skis (+22%), snowboarding (+18%) and outdoor (+17%). Fitness did great with an increase of 12 percent, while running and walking grew by only 1 percent, mostly due to the flat walking category. Sales of ski helmets and related products dropped by 17 percent, after the unusually strong seasons of the previous two years. Swimwear and beach fashion were down by only 1 percent, due to horrible weather conditions in the critical months of April and May. Thanks to the Fifa World Cup, football-related sales were up by 17 percent (including replica shirts), while other team sports were down by 4 percent.
