Sport 2000 International is actively pursuing the development of its e-commerce capabilities in order to engage consumers online at the local, national and international levels, in collaboration with its brand partners. The new international e-commerce platform sport2000.com, currently serving only the German market, was launched in March 2020 with the objective to branch out and include other countries in the near future. Additionally, Sport 2000 will launch in the coming months a similar initiative for its more specialized Absolute Run and Absolute Teamsport retailers.
The online marketplace project is being developed initially within the five countries that are working most closely together within the recently created Sport 2000 GmbH structure: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Luxemburg.
In all the five countries, the group has started to conduct a survey to determine the local customers’ perception of the Sport 2000 brand in order to fine-tune its future international message.
Out of these countries, the Dutch market was the first to launch an e-commerce platform under the sport2000.nl domain in 2014. The more recent German platform, launched concurrently with the international one, is largely based on the expertise collected in the shoe sector through the schuhe.de website of the ANWR Group, which oversees the Sport 2000 operations in Germany, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.
Sport Depot, a Bulgarian sporting goods retailer that joined Sport 2000 not so long ago, has been operating its own e-commerce platform since 2007, extending it recently to Greece, and its online sales have grown to represent 26 percent of its total retail sales during the coronavirus-related retail lockdowns in the spring.
The company has introduced a very important and useful functionality for customers that allows them to check the availability of certain items in a particular store. This helps them to plan their purchases in advance, visiting the store once they are sure that it offers the product they want.
Sport 2000 France is to launch its e-com solution at the beginning of 2021. In Austria, many retail members of Sport 2000 have their own web stores and are additionally connected to a web solution offered by Sport 2000 Austria (more in a separate article).
As a brand, Sport 2000 has a long way to go to catch up with more established retail banners in Europe, partly because the affiliated retailers in certain countries have no obligation to post the Sport 2000 logo in their stores. Intersport has been more demanding in this respect, and as a result, it featured in fifth place on our infographic about the most visited sports e-commerce websites in Europe between June and August, coming behind four integrated retail chains: Decathlon, JD Sports, Sports Direct and the Russian Sportmaster group.
Through the future version of the international sport2000.com website, which would subsequently be deployed in other countries, customers would eventually be able to order online certain products including special make-ups and private label items. They would also share some of the same campaigns, promotions and other types of contents.
In Germany, the new sport2000. website is running contests in collaboration with various other partner brands. The Dutch website is offering a “shoe finder” developed by Asics to help customers select the ideal shoe in its product range, and the concept may be applied to other brands as well in Germany. In Bulgaria, Sport Depot is running campaigns in collaboration with Jack Wolfskin and Adidas.
Using advanced analytics, the system developed by Sport 2000 International is expected to continue the interaction with the customer after the online purchase, building up loyalty through adequate upselling options and re-targeting marketing campaigns. Registered customers will receive automated e-mail messages with personalized offers and invitations to special events, including visits to the nearest physical store for product launches or signing sessions with professional athletes.
Sport 2000 International is collecting POS data through some of its national organizations to gain better customer insights and to help optimize product offers and marketing campaigns, in partnership with strategic partner brands.
Sport 2000 customers can already benefit from the Click&Collect option in some countries to order online and collect their items at their nearest retailer, allowing dealers who are not yet connected to the e-commerce platform to benefit from online sales as well. In the future, the inventory of the physical store will be linked with the e-com hub to allow customers to order items which are not physically available in the store.
A new “multi-category” offline experience
As indicated before, the corona-related lockdowns have accelerated the digitalization process initiated by Sport 2000, while promoting more collaboration at the international level. Meanwhile, Sport 2000 International is refining its “multi-category” concept for brick-and-mortar stores, with planned pilots in France, Belgium and Germany.
The future “multi-category” store concept will cover only 4 to 5 categories in-depth, in line with Sport 2000’s specialist approach. As the physical touchpoint in the customer journey, the future Sport 2000 brick-and-mortar store will still play a vital role as a ”social community hub” and a place to obtain personal expert advice that can best be received with personal human exchange and interaction, says Mike Kerbage, a multi-language expert in online marketing who joined Sport 2000 International in 2019 as marketing manager: “We want to keep it human. We want to keep it local. We want the customer to feel at home,” he says.
The idea behind this concept is to turn the store into a place of exchange and interaction for sports lovers through social elements like a lounge and dedicated areas to try out products and organize local events. In addition, customers will be given the option to book a private appointment with an expert.
As previously reported, the implementation of the new physical concept is planned for to start with a store in Chambery that will be hopefully be opened by Sport 2000 France in March. In the meantime some elements of the new concept have already been adopted by Sport Depot for a new stores in Sofia. Plans for a similar store in Hungary are also underway.
