SportXX, the big Swiss retail chain, has just launched its own internet offer at sportxx.ch. The new site is not only a mere platform for online shopping, but it also allows customers to check the availability of items in the company's physical stores. This function will invite customers to drop by the outlets for testing and, perhaps, to buy additional gear.
Sportxx.ch also integrates the offer of its specialty chains Outdoor by SportXX and Ryffel Running. In early 2011, SportXX's parent company, Migros, acquired the specialty running retailer headed by the brothers Markus and Urs Ryffel. To be more precise, Migros acquired Ryffel's mail-order business entirely and 60 percent of the brothers' brick-and-mortar business, which they have continued to run as managing partners.
According to Migros' latest figures, put out a few days ago, SportXX's sales were down by 6.3 percent last year. The company did not provide absolute figures, but it had indicated before that the sales of the specialty sporting goods chain had gone up by 6 percent in 2010 and by 4.8 percent in the previous year. Between the beginning of last year and now, the number of SportXX stores increased on a net basis from 47 to 50, while the outdoor specialty stores remained stable at six doors. Since Migros' investment in Ryffel, the running chain has doubled in size from two to four stores.
Migros itself, the country's leading retail organization, booked a decrease in sales of 0.7 percent to 24.9 billion Swiss francs (€20.7bn-$27.6bn). Like most of the players in Swiss retailing, the cooperative had to face tough competition from retailers in the neighboring regions of the euro zone, which had become highly competitive because of the strong Swiss franc. Migros, too, had to react, and it enacted price reductions averaging 2.8 percent. Therefore, the group interprets its sales figures as an effective net plus of 0.7 percent. The investment in competitive prices cost money, though: Earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) dropped by CHF 197.2 million to 979.0 million (€813.2m-$1,083m) compared with 2010.
