Adidas Sees Strong Offline-to-Online Shift

June 29, 2021

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2020 was going to be a strong sporting year, great international tournaments with thousands of spectators lay ahead with the UEFA EURO 2020 and the Olympic Games in Tokyo. And then the coronavirus hit and forced almost the whole world into lockdown. Both tournaments had to be canceled, and sports in general – also on a private scale – were restricted or even prohibited in many countries over a long period of time. This hit hard on sports gear producers and dealers. Like many others in their segment, German sportswear and equipment manufacturer Adidas – who is also a traditional outfitter and sponsor of international sporting events – saw an unprecedented slump in demand and stationary sales. The company reacted quickly and put an ever-greater effort into digital channels. As a result, Adidas increased its total eCommerce sales by 53% year-on-year in 2020. This means a pronounced shift from offline towards online sales, as Adidas’ overall 2020 net sales decreased by 16%. Adidas’ top online stores all registered a net sales increase comparable to or even higher than the company’s overall eCommerce growth:

Adidas’ success in digital sales channels in 2020 is also reflected in the net sales developments of the three top online stores of the company. The three biggest Adidas stores by net sales in 2020 adidas.com, adidas.co.uk, and reebok.com all increased their net sales remarkably compared to 2019. reebok.com registered the highest year-on-year growth. With an increase of 125%, reebok.com more than doubled, reaching total 2020 net sales of €262 million. It is thus closing the gap to adidas.co.uk, which still generated a higher amount of net sales in 2020 (€322 million), but grew almost half as fast as reebok.com, namely by 67% year-on-year. Taken individually, adidas.co.uk’s growth was still remarkable, though. Adidas’ frontrunner adidas.com generated almost four times as high a net sales amount as second-placed adidas.co.uk in 2020. Total net sales of adidas.com amounted to €1.2 billion, following a year-on-year growth of 58%. Given the recent great success of its online business, Adidas is planning to extend its digital strategies further. Part of this concept is a multi-channel solution, connecting offline and online activities into a digital ecosystem which centers around an app. By means of a new premium membership app among other things, Adidas is also enhancing growth in its direct-to-consumer sales channels. The new integrated online-offline approach hits a nerve, as consumer surveys and similar strategies by other great retail players show.

 

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