Currently, there are 11 organizations among the 100-plus members of the European Outdoor Group (EOG), which between them represent 24 retail companies with around 2,000 doors (and online sales) in nine European countries.
Although the retail members are competitors, they understand the opportunities of collaborating on pre-competitive issues that can benefit the whole sector and get together twice a year for EOG’s “Future of Retail” meetings in addition to the association’s main winter and summer meetings. Rainer Angstl, chief executive of a prominent German retailer, Sporthaus Schuster, sits on the EOG Board and works closely with the association’s retail consultant, Anny Cardinahl, who manages a full portfolio of projects. She spent more than 20 years at Globetrotter before joining the EOG in 2016.
The key retail projects include “Future of Retail,” the “Retail Meets Brand” series aiming at shared goals and tasks designed to improve business efficiencies and relationships, and the “Single Use Plastics” project to find solutions to significantly reduce their use in the value chain. Another project is called “RMB data,” creating a standardized backbone for the basics of data exchange for Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) B2B systems and Product Information Management (PIM) B2C systems to accelerate processes between retailers and brands.
Research is one of the EOG’s most important priorities, providing the industry with comprehensive and up-to-date market data. The association’s market research program has expanded after accepting retail members to include the Outdoor Retail Benchmark Report. This POS benchmarking report was developed to measure the sales of retailers in Europe. Launched as a pilot, the initial project participants are Sport2000, Intersport, A.S. Adventure, Sport Scheck, Reischmann, Engelhorn, McTrek, Bergfreunde, Campz, Bever Zwerfsport, Addnature, Transa Backpacking, Snow & Rock and Cotswold. The Outdoor Retail Benchmark Report is split into several sports sectors, including outdoor, cycling, running and golf. Categories include apparel, footwear and hardware, and a number of assortments are set out in more detail. Metrics include units and sales value in euros, retail pricing and a benchmark to the industry average. Every participating retailer receives a comprehensive report in return for taking part.
With all these retail initiatives making good progress and some having already yielded notable results helpful to both individual members and the whole association, the EOG is now encouraging more organizations to join its retail network. Those interested may contact Anny Cardinahl directly at anny.cardinahl@europeanoutdoorgroup.com or set up a meeting with her at Ispo Munich to learn more about the program.
