SportsShoes.com has achieved a 13% year-on-year increase in outdoor product sales across its UK and international websites for the first six months of its financial year beginning on 1 March 2024.
The £90m turnover online outdoor gear, running shoes and running clothing retailer also secured 7,000 new customers for its outdoor categories in the same period, representing 13% year-on-year growth.
The total number of unique outdoor customer orders in the first half of the financial year increased 11% from the first six months of the previous year to 120,000.
Established in 1982, Bradford-based SportsShoes.com offers customers more than 17,000 products from 150 global running and outdoor brands.
From an outdoor perspective these include Salomon, Montane, Rab and Patagonia, whilst in terms if running these include Asics, Nike, Adidas, Hoka, New Balance and Brooks.
Contributing factors behind the growth in outdoor sales include seasonal conditions driving more customers to purchase waterproof footwear and apparel.
Others include the successful launch of the specialist brand Mountain Equipment on the SportsShoes.com website alongside digital activations with Gore Tex, Patagonia and The North Face.
The retailer also saw significant success with its hiking shoes, including the Merrell Moab Speed 2, the Hoka Anacapa range and Salomon X Ultra series.
Physical outdoor category brand activations include collaborating with The North Face to support Muslim Hikers, an Active Inclusion Network initiative which empowers and inspires Muslim communities to get outdoors more.
SportsShoes.com managing director, Brett Bannister, said: “The outdoor market represents a core opportunity for us as we target new growth opportunities in the UK and overseas.
“As we do with our running and athlete communities, we always look at ways we can complement and excite our established online presence with physical brand activations.
“Underpinning this is our commitment to offering an amazing product range from leading brands and continual efforts to ensure provide a best-in-class online purchasing experience.”
Supporting the outdoor category growth is the increased capabilities of the replatformed SportsShoes.com website. This offers customers enhanced user journeys with increased levels of personalisation across product discovery and advice.
The project is part of a £4.6m investment over the last three years by retailer in its people, processes, technologies and facilities.
Tom Cain, outdoor category buyer at SportsShoes.com, added: “With our outdoor customers, it is essential they have an opportunity to access the best available products suitable for their individual needs.
“This has driven our performance in the outdoor marketplace, and we look forward to working with our brand partners to maintain this and grow our established online presence.”
In the first half of the year, SportsShoes.com also reported a 22% increase in its international sales with 75,000 new customers acquired in the same period, representing a 17% year-on-year growth.
Alongside its international websites for France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the retailer is targeting further growth in new overseas markets including Poland, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Nordics.
