CRC Sports, operator of the Supersports chain of stores, projects sales revenue this year to grow by 10 per cent against overall market growth of 7 per cent, due to new product zon¬ing in Supersports Brand Concept Stores.
Alan Thomson, managing director of CRC Sports, yesterday said CRC Sports' business direction this year would focus on creating a brandnew image, with a zoning strategy dividing the outlets into specific areas in response to customer demand.
facelift for stores
CRC will allocate Bt150 million to facelift five outlets and open two new stores - one in Trang province and the other the Crocs concept store at MBK.
The five revamped outlets will be Supersports Brand Concept Stores, each divided into eight zones: performance footwear, casual footwear, soccer and futsal, apparel, golf, exer¬cise and massage, team sport, and out¬door and accessories.
The highlight is the soccer zone at Central Pinklao, with which Supersports wants to cash in on the Fifa World Cup in June and July.
Thomson said Supersports expects the value of the retail sports mar¬ket this year will be Bt15 billion, with Supersports leading the way with 29 per cent.
He said Supersports would collaborate with top 20 brands to create exclusive promotions to enhance sales, adding that the company will allocate Bt60 million for marketing activities. Seventy per cent of the budget is for abovetheline marketing.
The new store concept and product zoning are crucial to CRC Sports meet¬ing its target of doubledigit sales growth this year, against 4.7 per cent last year, he said.
Sales of apparel dropped by 2.3 per cent last year, while golf products grew only 0.8 per cent.
Footwear sales account for 31 per cent of revenue, apparel for 19 per cent and golf products for 19 per cent.
Thomson said Supersports this year aimed to bring apparel sales back into positive growth territory by developing product zoning as well as creating a new house brand - Sport Time. Sport Time will be officially launched in the next two months, with prices 20 per cent lower than top brands.
"We will use our soccer business to cash in on the World Cup, and will sell premium products of the Thailand Premier League in this zone. This business will include soccer apparel, footwear and accessories, and we expect to achieve 10percent sales growth in our soccer business," Thomson said.
