Media Room

06/2023

Transformation: SPORT 2000 International becomes agile and future-proof

SPORT 2000 International reflects on a successful year, closing the 2022 financial year with retail gross sales of €6.5 billion. Aiming to become an agile, forward-looking premium retail service organisation, the sports retail company is initiating a transformation and growing even closer together as an international sports retail group.

Consumers are more discerning than ever and are examining their purchase decisions more critically than before. Sustainability as well as social and ethical responsibility are decisive purchase criteria. What’s more, there are technical innovations such as artificial intelligence and mega-trends that continuously result in new products on the market, thereby shaping the competitive environment. “The world around us is developing rapidly. As an international brand in brick-and-mortar sports retail, our task is to come up with new concepts and strategies to remain competitive in the future,” says Margit Gosau, CEO of SPORT 2000 International and SPORT 2000 GmbH, emphasising the importance of transformation processes. Above all, transformation also means parting ways with old patterns, being bold, and leaving the comfort zone. “By stepping out of the comfort zone, we can exploit our full potential and adopt a strong position in all countries as ONE SPORT 2000,” Gosau is convinced, adding: “Our mission is to grow more closely together as an international sports retail group and become an agile, future-oriented premium retail service organisation.” Strategy and transformation expert Philipp Hahn, who held a keynote presentation at the international sales conference of SPORT 2000 in Mainhausen, also shares this view. “Change enables companies to redefine their positioning. A transformation process is successful when the changes are seen as an opportunity and are actively supported by all stakeholders,” explains Hahn. SPORT 2000 International took decisive steps in 2022 to sharpen its positioning with the introduction of the “Home of Experts” global brand claim, the associated launch of the “Welcome Home” international brand campaign as well as the launch of the new WITEBLAZE brand.

SPORT 2000 further increases sales growth
SPORT 2000 International achieved retail gross sales of €6.5 billion across all categories and segments last year. This represents an increase of 15.5 per cent compared to 2021 and an increase of 36.5 per cent compared to pre-crisis levels in 2019. In 2022, more than 200 million people worldwide were advised, equipped and inspired for sports in the SPORT 2000 stores, as revealed by the business analytics of SPORT 2000 International. All in all, the sports retail group encompassed around 2,300 retailers with around 3,600 stores in 25 countries at the end of 2022. This is before counting the country-specific online shops that provided additional shopping experiences.

Strong collaboration within the organisation
For Gosau, the focus of the long-term strategy is clearly on the even greater networking of SPORT 2000 at the international level. The sports retail group is driving the exchange of know-how and cross-border collaboration with its “Centre of Excellence” approach. “Each one of our countries has the greatest expertise in a wide range of areas. We share this know-how within our international group,” Gosau notes. After all: “The entire sports retail group benefits from international exchange and shared projects.” Pursuing strategic approaches together is key for the sports retail group. Due to the different strategic plans for the future, SPORT 2000 International and SGN Sports will go separate ways at the end of 2023. As a result of this decision, SPORT 2000 is no longer represented in Sweden and Finland. “Our goal is not to saturate the map with national representations, but to focus on high-quality and strategically coordinated cooperation partners that provide the best fit with SPORT 2000’s mission,” says Gosau.

Election and re-election confirm the Supervisory Board
During this year’s General Assembly, Dominik Solleder, Managing Director of SPORT 2000 GmbH, was elected as a new member of the Supervisory Board of SPORT 2000 International. Dr Holger Schwarting, member of the Management Board of SPORT 2000 Austria, was confirmed once again as Chair of the Supervisory Board of SPORT 2000 International. The Supervisory Board is composed as follows: Chair Dr Holger Schwarting, Austria; Deputy Chair Matthias Grevener, Germany; Marius Rovers, the Netherlands; Jean-Louis Parent, France; Roland Felder, Switzerland; and Dominik Solleder, Germany.