The European Football Championship has made the tills ring at sports retailers. Intersport alone sold almost half a million jerseys. Business was boosted by one particularly popular item.
During the European Football Championship in Germany, Intersport sold more than 450,000 football shirts. “That’s quite a number. We haven’t had that at tournaments in the last twelve years, which I can look back on well,” said the dealer association’s Germany boss, Alexander von Preen, to the German Press Agency in Heilbronn. Nobody expected that.
The pink away jersey of the German national team was particularly popular. “It was a hit. At times we were completely sold out,” said von Preen. In addition to the DFB jerseys, sports kits from other European Championship participants were also frequently sold – including those of the Italian, Dutch and Turkish teams, for example.
Pink DFB away jersey is bestseller
Competitors Decathlon and Sport 2000 did not provide any sales figures when asked. However, the sales rate of the DFB jerseys has never been so high, said a spokesperson for Sport 2000. The away jersey is completely sold out. In the weeks of the European Championship, sales revenues were very good. At Decathlon, too, the pink DFB jersey was the most successful away jersey ever, according to a spokesperson.
The manufacturer Adidas recently announced that the pink jersey had become a historic bestseller. It was the best-selling away jersey in the history of all DFB jerseys, they said. Overall, demand for the DFB team’s jerseys was also high: Adidas expects to sell more than three times as many as originally calculated. However, the company did not provide any specific figures.
Positive EM effect at Intersport
The European Championships had a positive effect on the business of Intersport retailers overall. “Compared to last year, we have always had a very significant increase in our team sports category in recent weeks,” said von Preen. He hoped that the Olympic Games, which begin in Paris at the end of July, would also spark interest and keep the topic of sport in people’s minds – and boost sales of sporting goods.
Intersport claims to be Germany’s largest sports retailer group. In the 2022/23 financial year, it had more than 700 retailers with a good 1,400 stores nationwide. Over 400 of them also operated under the Intersport name. By 2030, the group plans to open more than 100 new Intersport stores and increase its sales to around six billion euros – and thus to a market share of a good 30 percent.
Source: Stern
