Sportswear: if brand is king what is retail?

Sports and Outdoor retail is huge and according to GlobalData, the UK sportswear market is forecast to grow 20.9% by 2023, reaching over £6bn. Consumers are becoming more focused on health and wellbeing, driven by the adventure-seeking millennials, who value their free time more so than ever.

Reading over the GlobalData research, it highlights that 58.2% of sports footwear shoppers agree that the brand is important to them when purchasing an item, with the figure rising among younger consumers. A statistic that is further backed up with research conducted by YouGov on behalf of Cybertill stating that 73% of consumers would purchase footwear (of all kinds) and accessories directly through a retailer or brand in-store and 55% would purchase directly though a retailer or brand online or via an app (YouGov 2019).

Shoppers seem to gravitate towards brands they trust especially within the sports and outdoor market. If someone owns the perfect pair of running trainers or hiking boots, then chances are they are likely to purchase the same brand again, which is how sports brands gain loyalty from consumers, something Nike does extremely well. Even the resale market for trainers is booming.

With sports and leisure items, the brand is king. Channels, less so. According to our research, when asked what consumers’ shopping preference would be when purchasing sports and leisure goods, the highest response amongst consumers was ‘no preference’ at 29%, followed by in-store only at 22% (YouGov 2018). Which is why brands selling through their own channels, third parties, concessions and sports clubs can maximise revenue and reach to their target market – especially if they have an integrated retail management system.

Make it mobile

Mobile point of sale – or mPOS is perfect for sports and outdoors brands. Create pop-ups at sporting events, stadia, festivals and more, using a tablet as a point of sale and an extended digital aisle to encourage sales and maximise revenue. mPOS also gives retailers the capability to send e-receipts and keep all customer information and purchases up to date. Look at what Musto achieved with the ultimate pop-up shop.

Go the extra mile with in-store services

Adding a workshop and repair service for specialist items is a great way to enhance the customer experience. Retailers selling bespoke items and tailor-made sports equipment such as golf clubs can keep all customer information, photographs and workshop notes in the one system with cloud-based retail management software.

Connecting ecommerce

Ecommerce is important to sports brands selling directly to consumers and it doesn’t need to be managed separately. Integrating ecommerce to EPoS lets retailers have a single view of all inventory, sales and customer data, across all aspects of the business – centralising all data and making it easy to access and manage.

Find out how Cybertill has helped sports retailer O’Neills manage stock and improve cash flow here.

The research

Statistics in this blog were taken from the following:
Online YouGov Survey on behalf of Cybertill ‘Future Shopping’, completed by 2083 adults between 6th – 7th March 2019. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).
Online YouGov Survey on behalf of Cybertill ‘Online/in-store shopping’, completed by 2004 adults between 11th – 12th April 2019. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

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Data contained within this report may only be published if crediting ‘Cybertill and YouGov’ and a link back to www.cybertill.com/sportswear-if-brand-is-king-what-is-retail