Intersport battles to a good year

The German branch of Intersport announced at ISPO Munich 2016 that the company enjoyed an overall increase in turnover of 1% in 2015 compared to the year before. In total, the affiliated retailers reached a sales figure of around €2.9 billion. Although the German group is accountable for the Central and European markets as well, this number relates just to sales in Germany.

Intersport enjoyed a fantastic start to the year with sales increasing by around 7% in the first quarter, however, it got a bit trickier for the company after that as April saw sales plummet by 7%. The rest of the year stabilised numbers but an unusually warm December meant that sales decreased once more but by around 8% this time. The rest of the year was enough though to ensure that they stayed in growth in 2015.

When you break this down, it is clear to see that ‘team sports’ was the area that stopped the company from moving forward even further as sales in this department fell by nearly 20% with the main reason being a lack of an international soccer tournament. This seemed to be counter balanced by the impressive growth in the bike and fitness categories which increased by more than 15% and 5% respectively; sales of outdoor gear also increased by a modest 2%.

The growth of Intersport Germany was also aided by Austria and the Czech Republic who are also included in the figures. The Czech Republic saw its sales increase to €50 million (2% rise) whilst Austria’s sales reached €400 million (11% rise). Poland is also included in the group although the numbers haven’t yet been announced as Intersport Polska is currently publically listed. Slovakia enjoyed a 7% growth while Hungary remained at a similar level.