"Australia’s population is incredibly enthusiastic about sports and extremely sporty,” Franz Julen, CEO of INTERSPORT, says.
"With Independent Sports we have found a successful and competent local partner.
“INTERSPORT and Independent Sports stand for passion, expertise, advice and top offers."
The stores will be rebranded in three phases by the end of 2017.
Through the acquisition of the US athletic footwear retail chain The Athlete's Foot at the end of 2012, INTERSPORT already has 140 stores in Australia, mainly focused on athletic footwear.
"The fact that as of July 2014 we can offer exclusive products from all the major sports brands, as well as introduce a number of quality INTERSPORT exclusive brands in our shops, will bring great benefits for consumers and our retailers," Kevin O'Hanlon, CEO of Independent Sports, says.
"We are now able to offer a point of difference to other local sports retailers and gain a decisive competitive advantage, especially towards international online providers."
INTERSPORT has also opened its first three stores in China, which are located in Fuzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou, three cities in the southern Chinese province of Fujian
In partnership with the Chinese Fujian New Huadu Supercenter Co, another eight new stores are scheduled to open in 2014.
In the next five years INTERSPORT plans to open 80-100 multisport shops in China with a sales floor space of 1,000 to 1,500 m2 each.
“We consider our goal to have a total of 500 stores in Asia and Australia by 2022 to be very realistic, as INTERSPORT and The Athlete's Foot will have more than 200 shops in this area in two to three years,” Julen says.
“Europe is and will remain our core market, but we see large growth opportunities in Asia, Australia, the Middle East and in North and South America.”
By: Jeff James sports-insight.co.uk
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