Business news : Amer Sports, Building brands profitably in all channels

The Amer Sports brands are selling more and more products directly to consumers in brand stores and web shops. “This year we are adding about 20 million euros to our total growth,” estimated Victor Duran at the Amer Sports Capital Market Day. Duran is Senior Vice President, B-to-C and Marketing. 

B-to-C commerce started in 2005 with the first Salomon store in Prague, Czech Republic. Arc’teryx then opened its first store in Montreal, Canada in 2008.

By 2009, Salomon had grown its direct sales to about 20 million euros.

“We had a promising concept for Salomon, but nothing we could industrialize. Since 2010 we have built the overall B-to-C strategy, then laid the foundation and now we have a scalable business model for all brands.”

Almost 60 per cent of consumers are already using multiple channels.

“If you want to be successful, you have to have a good presence in all the channels consumers are using. E-commerce and mobile commerce are important, but we also keep pushing our shop in shops, expand our brand stores and keep testing pop-up stores and e-commerce in stores. Branded shopping is one of the key elements if you want to create a high class shopping experience.”

So far Salomon has been the test laboratory in direct sales to consumers.´Now the business models and platforms are expanded to other brands.

Since 2010, Amer Sports has established a retail platform that can service all brands. Salomon has continued expanding and the company is validating the Arc’teryx model. The first Arc’teryx brand store was opened in Montreal a year ago.

“In the end of this year we have Arc’teryx stores also in London, Vancouver, Seattle and Shanghai. We will monitor their performance and once they meet our target performance levels, we will begin a measured expansion, like we have with Salomon.”

The company has also established an E-commerce platform. Since 2011, it has launched Salomon, Suunto, and Arc’teryx in most of Europe and North America. It has also launched Wilson and DeMarini in the US.

“In E-commerce we have made one of the fastest launches the industry has seen. All brands are operating on a common platform. “

Recently more effort has been set on the products and assortment.

“A key element of our strategy has been to create dedicated buying and merchandising teams. They make sure that we always have the right products in the right place. This year dedicated B-to-C products have hit the shelves and are having a clear impact, helping us deliver comparative store sales growth of over 7 per cent. We are starting to behave like a real retailer.”

Brand stores and E-commerce must be linked to overall business, Duran emphasized. E-commerce and brand stores drive brand loyalty and awareness. Experience and several studies have also showed that e-commerce and brand stores have already created growth in traditional channels, too.

“We are not talking about a marketing exercise. The role of B-to-C is to drive disproportionate growth profitably.  We have done this for the past three years, reaching nearly 100 million euros and adding some 20 million euros in revenue this year.  Our plan is to continue on this glidepath.”

What about the future years?

“We now have a strong retail and e-commerce foundation that we can build on. Currently, Salomon is our first true multi-channel brand, present in brand stores, factory outlets, and e-commerce. Now we are starting the same process with Arc’teryx. We have launched e-commerce and factory Outlets and are now in the process of validating the brand store model. As our other brands build their softgoods offer, we can take the same approach with them as well."

Source Amer Sports

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