Andy Towne ( Amer Sports ) : The growth in apparel continues

In the first quarter of 2014 the net sales of Amer Sports´ Apparel Division were 70,9 million euros, up by 21 per cent. It is a lot more than the overall market growth. President of Apparel Andy Towne is convinced that the strong growth continues.

How can you achieve 20 per cent growth year after year?

Towne has a simple answer: “Sell more!”

“There really are only two ways to grow. One is to sell in more places, the other is to sell more in places where we are currently in. Our brands still tend to be quite limited in their availability. We know there is an opportunity to expand the number of doors.  At the same time we are learning how to operate and merchandise our brands better in the stores we are currently in.”

The secret of in-store excellence

Towne underlines the importance of in-store excellence.

“We need to own enough space in store so people can see us. To achieve this we are building more complete product lines. We have to cover more price points and categories. Then it comes down to developing the skills of merchandising. We have to package the products in the right way so we can kick out the competition and take more space in stores.”

Growing the core

Amer Sports has now two strong apparel brands (Arc’teryx, Salomon), a few newcomers (Wilson, De Marini, Atomic) and a brand for young active women (Nikita). The overall growth comes from the combination of all of these.

“We always say: grow the core, add more. We are growing the core, because that´s where our two strongest brands are. We are adding more when we launch apparel products for Atomic, DeMarini and Wilson. There are still huge opportunities to grow all of those brands.”

Towne says that acquisition of new brand is not in schedule.

“Right now we are focusing on making the most of the brands we have now. But if the right opportunity comes along, we might consider it.”

Which is more important for you: selling through own channels or relying on retail partners?

“They are equally important for two reasons. Our goal is to make our own retail about 20 per cent of overall sales. But we have to remember that 80 per cent of the business still comes from retail partners. So we need to do both. Our consumers live in a multi-channel shopping world and our products should be available everywhere 24/7. That´s what the customer expects.”

Digitalization allows deeper brand experience

Towne says that people expect more from brands in the digital age.

“The brand still has the same place in consumers' life that it did have before. What has changed is how people learn about brands and how they engage with the brands. Digital media allows information and opinions to travel very fast and very wide.  Consumers are much quicker and better informed. That means that they are a lot more demanding. We have to give them a deeper brand experience than in the analog days. What you say and how you say it is very important these days.”

On the right track

Towne started as the head of the apparel in the fall of 2010.

“We have been on a journey for three years to get Amer Sports ready to deal with the apparel business. I think we are now getting there. We really have developed our capabilities by hiring the right talent or developing apparel skills in our internal talent. We have also introduced new processes which are true apparel processes.”

“We have now started to behave like an apparel company. But we want to be known as a world-class apparel company. We still have a long way to go.”

Source Amer Sports


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