All Bergfreunde articles
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Article
Backcountry acquired by CSC Generation
The buyout firm acquired the US e-tailer after German retailer Bergfreunde had already been sold to Decathlon in January 2024.
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News briefs
German online retailer Bergfreunde is ‘Save Our Returns’-certified
German mountain sports, climbing and outdoor e-commerce retailer Bergfreunde GmbH, which was acquired by the French sporting goods chain Decathlon earlier this year, has been awarded the Save Our Returns sustainability seal. According to Bergfreunde, this makes it the first outdoor retailer and only the fourth company ever to be ...
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Bergfreunde revenue grows by 12%, more investments in ESG
Consumers’ reduced willingness to spend was once again reflected in a significant drop in total sales in German e-commerce in 2023. According to the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh), overall gross sales of goods fell 11.8 percent to €79.7 billion. Despite this difficult environment, the sales trend ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde takeover finalized
As previously reported, the French sporting goods manufacturer and retailer Decathlon S.E. signed a purchase agreement in late November with the US outdoor retailer Backcountry to acquire the German mountain sports, climbing and outdoor e-commerce retailer Bergfreunde GmbH. It has now been officially announced that the transaction was completed and ...
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Climate protection initiative ORCC publishes 2023 annual report
The Outdoor Retailer Climate Commitment (ORCC), an open network of European outdoor retailers for more climate protection in the outdoor industry, has published its annual balance sheet for 2023. The ORCC was founded in September 2021 by the five European companies Yonderland (formerly A.S. Adventure), Bergfreunde, Bergzeit, Sportler and Internetstores. ...
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Bergfreunde changes its climate protection strategy
Having been strongly committed to climate protection for some time, the German online retailer for mountaineering, climbing and outdoor equipment Bergfreunde GmbH is now making a strategic change in response to a recent review of its own climate protection policy: Instead of offsetting the currently unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions through ...
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Matthias Gebhard: “We repeatedly achieve constantly better results through micro-optimization”
For the Bergfreunde co-CEO, there’s no magic formula, but there are certainly some key strategies. Matthias Gebhard shares his best with us.
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German e-tailer Bergfreunde continues on record path in 2022
German e-commerce retailer for mountain sports, climbing and outdoor, Bergfreunde GmbH, has achieved record sales of €242 million in its 2022 fiscal year. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of 19 percent. With this result, the online specialty retailer was able to stand its ground in a ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde adds new data and finance specialists to management team
German retailer Bergfreunde is expanding its management team: In October 2022, Christopher Barth joined the company to fill the newly created position of head of data and analytics at the online outdoor retailer. Barth, who most recently worked as an executive at Hugo Boss in the CRM, customer data and ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde creates and fills new head of buying position
Source: Bergfreunde Michael Vieweger, new Head of Buying Bergfreunde German e-commerce mountain sports, climbing and outdoor retailer Bergfreunde GmbH has hired Michael Vieweger as head of buying, a new position. The former purchasing manager for sports at fashion and lifestyle company E. Breuninger GmbH & Co. will ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde reports 31 percent growth in 2021, turnover exceeds €200 million
German e-commerce specialist Bergfreunde has released its 2021 report, stating a record turnover of €203 million. Given the unbroken growth trend in 2022, Bergfreunde is investing in new employees and further expanding its customer support (which currently counts 60 people) and IT development team. In 2021 alone, the store IT ...
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Outdoor Retailer Climate Commitment grows by five new big members to 10 percent of outdoor retail market
Five more European outdoor retailers have joined the Outdoor Retailer Climate Commitment (ORCC), an open network of European outdoor retailers for more climate protection in the outdoor industry. With retail heavyweights Sporthaus Schuster, Sport Conrad, Engelhorn, Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports and Sport Pursuit, the network now unites around 10 percent ...
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Outdoor and sports industries create support initiatives for people affected by war in Ukraine
A wave of solidarity with both the refugees and the people of Ukraine is underway, and many practical initiatives have been launched in the last two weeks, many of which came from the players in our industry. The longer the war lasts, the clearer it becomes that only specific product ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde leads ranking of Germany’s climate-conscious companies
In their ranking of “Germany’s climate-conscious companies,” the market research company Statista and the business magazine Capital have named the online specialist retailer Bergfreunde the company with the strongest climate awareness in Germany, based on data from over 2,000 German companies. The analysis focused on the question of which companies ...
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News briefs
Backcountry launches Shaun White's Whitespace brand
U.S. retailer Backcountry, parent company of German retail specialist Bergfreunde, has teamed up with pro snowboarder Shaun White for his new Whitespace brand of hardgoods and apparel. Backcountry will act as the exclusive retailer for Whitespace and is kicking off the partnership with a limited-edition Whitespace Freestyle Shaun White Pro ...
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International group of outdoor dealers starts climate protection initiative ORCC
A newly founded open network of outdoor retailers has started and signed a new commitment and initiative called Outdoor Retailer Climate Commitment (ORCC) to underline their will to reach the Paris Agreement global warming limit of 1,5 degrees Celsius. With the initiative, the founding group of European outdoor retailers – ...
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Bergfreunde and the reduction of e-commerce’s carbon footprint:
“We are pioneers”Germany-based Bergfreunde GmbH (bergfreunde.de), part of the U.S.-based Backcountry Group (backcountry.com), is an online-only retailer selling outdoor clothing and equipment in a total of 14 European markets. In 2020, it generated sales of €155 million. In April, Bergfreunde joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), making a public commitment to ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde.de launches new branding campaign
Bergfreunde GmbH, the German online specialty retailer for mountain sports, climbing and outdoor equipment, has launched a branding campaign to make its brand values “emotionally tangible” for its customers. The storytelling focuses on Bergfreunde employees as authentic ambassadors for mountain sports and outdoor love. The brand campaign tells various stories ...
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News briefs
Bergfreunde joins Science Based Targets Initiative for climate action
German online outdoor retailer Bergfreunde GmbH (bergfreunde.de) has joined the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to set and track targets for a science-based reduction of its CO2 footprint. Bergfreunde is one of the first German online stores to use the SBTi to work alongside global players such as Arc’teryx, Under ...
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Online retailer Bergfreunde continues to grow
Online outdoor retailer Bergfreunde GmbH (bergfreunde.de), part of the U.S. Backcountry Group (backcountry.com), has announced annual sales of €155 million for its fiscal year 2020, a plus of 41 percent compared to the previous year. According to the online-only retailer, the increase was due primarily to the Corona pandemic, which ...