Retail
The Group’s UK stores (other than Field & Trek) supply a wide range of competitively priced sports and leisure equipment, clothing, footwear and accessories under a mix of brands. We stock third-party brands including adidas, Nike, Reebok and Puma. Group-owned brands include Dunlop, Slazenger and Lonsdale. We also sell licensed-in brands.
A significant proportion of the revenue in the stores is derived from the sale of the Group-owned and licensed-in branded products, which allows the retail business to generate higher margins while at the same time differentiating the Group’s stores from those of its competitors, both in terms of the range of products on sale and the competitive prices at which they are offered.
The Group continues to enhance its in-store offering with dedicated areas for specialist product collections. Since 2007 we have owned 25% of Brasher Leisure, trading as Sweatshop. This has enabled us to develop the SheRunsHeRuns concept in our stores. To date, 50% of our stores have a dedicated SheRunsHeRuns area, and 15% have a Field & Trek product area. Our newest collaboration with Soccer Scene and The Boot Room is currently in 80% of stores.
The Group has retail interests outside the UK and has a flexible approach to entry into new markets. These interests include wholly owned retail outlets (in Belgium, Holland, France, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Portugal trading as Sports Direct), joint ventures with other retailers (such as in Heatons stores in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and stores within another retailer’s store (as in Cyprus). Since December 2010 we have acquired a 50.1% stake in the third largest sports retailer in Portugal, Sports Direct Portugal, which operates out of 13 stores.