La firma ilicitana Sprinter, enseña de las tiendas de venta de material y ropa deportiva, quiere llegar a lo más alto del podio. Para hacerlo, el grupo Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG) al que pertenece —propiedad a su vez de la multinacional británica JD Sports—, ha sacado la chequera para realizar compras selectivas de empresas que refuercen la actividad en aquellas divisiones donde el holding comprobó su debilidad durante 2020 y para promover su expansión comercial con la apertura de nuevas tiendas.

“Last year it was hard with all closed stores, and still we grew 10% compared to 2019.From what we have happened, it has helped us to advance challenges that we had in hand for the next three or four years, ”explains Ángel Segarra, general director of Sprinter and member of the two founding families of the brand.The other, the Bernard, left the company after falling into the hands of JD Sports.

Sprinter, who was born in Elche in 1995, has 180 stores in Spain that operate under this brand.During this year, the company has opened the door of 15 new establishments and hopes to close the year with at least nine more.Some stores that, for now, will always be in property, "is not in our plans to implement the franchise," says Segarra.Among its new openings is a store with a model more linked to experiences, at the Parquesur Shopping Center in Madrid, in which 1.3 million euros have been invested.This is a place in which they are committed to a more interactive and technological development with services such as biometric analyzes, tread tests or personalized training and nutrition plans."With this new concept we want to differentiate ourselves from the rest of the sports retail," explains the manager.

In addition to commercial expansion, selective acquisitions is another of the ISRG group bets.A strategy that they wanted to reinforce after exposing some shortcomings such as online sale.A weakness that they have faced with the purchase of 80% of the Catalan Sports for 140 million, a digital native company, founded in 2010, with a turnover of 120 million in 2020."With this purchase we complement each other in individual sports such as cycling, outdoor and swimming in which they are important," says Segarra.

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In spite.Even so, "the weight of sales in electronic commerce in the business has evolved from 2% in 2019 to an expectation of 15% in 2021".

But purchases have not stopped there.In summer, they announced the acquisition of 50.1% of the Murcian Bodytone, specialist in the manufacture of machines to train, which in 2020 entered 28 million and has a presence in 40 countries.A purchase, of which the amount has not been revealed, which aims to increase the presence of Sprinter in the fitness, a sector that has grown in geometric progression from the health crisis."With this operation we position ourselves in this sector.A category that Sprinter was not settled ".

Exterior jump

To these two acquisitions we must add in July 2021 the incorporation into the Iberian holding."We are going to remodel them and implement the management model we have in Spain," explains Segarra.A change in the Dutch strategy that could lead to the unification of the name and take the Sprinter teaching beyond the Spanish border.“At some point the decision to unify the label, but not for now.The shoe does not squeeze us, for now.We are more concerned with the business model, ”says the manager.

With this international jump, the Iberian Sports Retail Group (ISRG) holds 465 stores distributed between Spain, Portugal and Holland, with a template of more than 8.000 employees (6.500 in Spain and Portugal) and a turnover of 660 million euros in 2020 between Spain and Portugal.

For its part, Sprinter, present only in Spain, invoiced 400 million euros in last year, of which 300 million correspond to the sale both for the online channel and in physical store and the rest for wholesale to companies to companiesof the group and franchises.The benefit before taxes was 18 million euros.

Group's market share and Portugal reaches 12%.A percentage that includes the Sprinter's own brand that maintains with 10 teachers between clothing and the sports area."Participation in turnover is around 20%.The strategy is to continue and give coverage to a consumer who does not want or cannot access the international brand.But in general, the strongest bet is for the international brand, ”concludes Ángel Segarra.