E-commerce is the fastest growing channel in Sportswear, but is still only 6-7 percent of total sales. Direct-to-consumer/vertical channels are even smaller. Nike tallied 540 million in sales in fiscal 2013 through Nike.com, or 2.1 percent of global sales (forecasted to reach $2 billion by 2017). Rival Adidas registered direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales growth of 77.5 percent in 2012 (versus 11 percent total sales growth). However, online sales are only 1.1 percent of total sales. More recent entrants including Lululemon do better, suggesting the friction is focus and aptitude, versus consumer behavior. The yoga apparel retailer registers 16.3 percent of its sales via e-commerce. In the fourth quarter of 2013, Lululemon rolled out m-commerce devices in high-volume stores to increase inventory availability.
SEVERAL CHALLENGES HAMSTRING THE SPORTSWEAR INDUSTRY ONLINE
- E-commerce giant Amazon threatens to undercut price and brand
Perception in a market increasingly focused on premium products. Although 57 percent of Sportswear brands sell on Amazon, major players including Adidas, Nike and Puma have limited their distribution on the platform.
- Sportswear brands have yet to exploit multichannel marketing opportunities.
Despite the shift to vertical retail and substantial investments in e-commerce, few brands connect the two. Only 11 percent of Sportswear brands feature real-time inventory integration, and just three—Eastern Mountain Sports, REI, and The North Face—provide in-store pickup. While brand mobile apps have been successful, just 28 percent incorporate a store locator.
- Personalized marketing and customer service lag. Only 14 percent of brands personalize emails, and just a quarter send automatically triggered abandoned-cart emails. Site customer service features (e.g., live chat) are employed by less than half of brands.
MOBILE WEBSITE
During Black Friday 2013, nearly one out of every four online
sales dollars occurred on a mobile device. Sporting goods
and sportswear was one of the category winners for the
period along with toys and jewelry, with an increase in sales
of 680 percent over a typical sales day.10 Seven out of 10
sportswear brands now feature a mobile optimized site.
