Adidas wants to strengthen bond with small retailers

German sportswear giant Adidas says it wants to strengthen its bond with small-scale retailers after they claimed Adidas is too aggressive in pushing its web shop, especially as they feel the brand is favouring large international chains as well.

Trailing Nike

According to German newspaper Handelsblatt, small-scale retailers are angry because Adidas would involve international chains like JD Sports from the United Kingdom and Footlocker from the United States, but largely leave German purchase alliances like Intersport and Sport 2000 uninvolved in the expansion of its webshop. Adidas’ latest policy is aimed at raising its online turnover from one billion euro in 2016 to four billion in 2020. The German company fears Nike’s competition and wants to expand is target audience. Last year, Adidas’ turnover of 21.2 billion euro trailed Nike’s 31.5 billion.

Danish Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted has therefore asked his sales director Roland Auschel to strengthen the ties with retailers, but they remain critical, according to Handelsblatt: they want a share in the new Adidass app – but that is out of the question for Rorsted. Currently, Adidas has 2500 physical stores and 13.000 franchisers.