Deeply attached to their traditions, the retail members of Sport 2000 in Germany have responded with furor to the letter circulated a few days ago by the management of the buying group, announcing the board decision to strike a strategic alliance with the Amazon.de internet portal. As a result, Sport 2000 Deutschland has decided to stop the process of admitting Amazon.de as a member.
While the membership has apparently understood that the structure of the market is changing, the time is not yet ripe enough to accommodate a pure e-commerce player into the existing structures of the group, Sport 2000 Deutschland has concluded. The deal with Amazon.de would have given to Amazon.de access to the products of many brands, particularly in view of the FIFA World Cup, while raising the purchasing power and the image of Sport 2000. It would also have given to the affiliated retailers a platform for their own e-commerce business.
A spokesperson for Amazon.de declined to confirm that it is planning to start up its own sporting goods portal anyhow in the Fall, with or without a new strategic partner. For the moment, it is trying other ways to beef up an Amazon.de/Fussball page set up for of the World Cup. The page offers only a few items by Adidas and others through Sport-Scheck, the subsidiary of Otto Versand, which is big on the internet.
