Sport 2000 International has resuffled its product management team in alignment with strategic changes that call for the buying group to transform into a more customer-oriented retail organization, focusing on sports categories instead of product categories like Nike, Adidas and other generalist brands.
The direct rival of the German-based organization, Intersport International Corporation, has been moving in the same direction already. So have some of the national Sport 2000 organizations in Germany and some other countries.
While the structure of Sport 2000 International was previously articulated around three separate business units for footwear, apparel and equipment, the updated management structure has been split into three groups of sports and lifestyle categories.
For each of the product groups, Sport 2000 International has a business analyst who provides market and consumer research, helping to put together the assortment that is most relevant to consumers. The approach should help retailers to build more experience-driven areas in their stores as well.
Running, fitness and lifestyle form the key categories in the first group. A second group is built around team sports, baselayers, beach and swimwear. While these two groups are permanent, a third one brings together seasonal and regional sports, focusing on winter sports and outdoor products.
The categories were picked on the basis of consumer research, and the structure could be adjusted to changes in consumer trends. Lifestyle has not been a key development area for Sport 2000 International and the organization emphasizes that the focus will remain on sports, but it may sell more lifestyle products from the leading sports brands.
Sport 2000 International explains that it re-thought the organization after it decided last year to shift to a retail group focusing on the sell-through instead of purchasing. Its 2021 strategy identified three areas requiring investment: the positioning of the Sport 2000 brand and its retail concept; the assortment and the related supply chain; and the development of a digital and data collection and analysis strategy. The group started implementing the latest internal structure on a trial basis in February and finalized the transition in July.
This sharper focus on sports categories will be taken up in the updated store concept under development at Sport 2000 International, which should be finalized around the end of this year. The strategy for online retailing has yet to be worked out.
Retail members of Sport 2000 in the Netherlands have teamed up to create a Dutch online store, Sport2000.nl, where they reach consumers over the internet. The international organization said that Schuhe.de, the online store developed by the ANWR group for its affiliated shoe retailers, could be the blueprint for a marketplace solution for Sport 2000. ANWR is the parent company of the national Sport 2000 organizations in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
As previously reported, a parallel initiative has been launched by Sport 2000 Europe to develop specialist store concepts under the Absolute retail brand. It will start with the opening of an Absolute Team Sports store by Sport-Hesse in Germany, near Koblenz.
The general assembly of Sport 2000 International held in Germany in May already provided some updates on the planned strategic changes. The remit of the organization has changed since it parted ways with Sports Direct International in the U.K. and Lifestyle Sports in Ireland a few months ago, but new partnerships have been struck in Spain, Belgium, Hungary and the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
