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SportFits exceeds growth predictions for 2023 despite weak consumer sentiment
The Passau-based e-commerce specialist for outdoor, bike & winter sports articles SportFits can look back on the most successful financial year in its history despite numerous challenges. While the German online retail sector suffered a 12% year-on-year decline in sales for the first time in 2023, SportFits not only exceeded the targets it had set itself, but was also well above the industry average. Sales increased by 31 percent from 18.6 to 24.4 million euros. The net operating margin before depreciation, inventory valuation and taxes is 6.51 percent. The company was thus able to grow profitably for the sixth year in a row.
Milestones of the past business year
The year 2023 was shaped, above all, by changes for SportFits. The new company building, which is located in Salzweg, north of Passau, was moved into in fall. In addition to the larger office and warehouse space, the centerpiece of the building is the fully automated AutoStore system, which has greatly increased storage capacity and efficiency. Shipping figures have tripled in the new logistics center to up to 6,000 parcels per day.
SportFits has also been a member of the Sport 2000 group since the end of 2023, which further strengthens the partnerships with the individual brands and its own position in premium sports retail. To take account of the change of season in the sports industry, the financial year was adjusted in 2023 and now always ends at the end of February.
Improving customer satisfaction was the primary goal
The investments in faster logistics were also accompanied by numerous improvements in customer service in 2023. For example, the company began using specially developed AI software to answer customer inquiries fully automatically in some cases. "On average, our customers received their parcels 1.5 days faster than in the previous year. Customer tickets were answered up to 48 hours faster during the peak season", explains Martin Bauer, Head of Development. The result is measurable. Trust scores on TrustedShops increased from 4.2 to 4.6 and on TrustPilot from 3.9 to 4.5. These trust scores are the most important indicators of customer satisfaction in e-commerce.
Intelligent product management as a focus for 2024
Florian Weis, CEO of SportFits, is confident: "Our customers can also look forward to great new brands in the SportFits range in 2024. Lowa, Hanwag and POC will be joining our existing 200 brands this year. We also want to grow profitably in the new business year."
At the same time, the specially developed ERP software will ensure that less profitable products disappear from the range. "In the future, we will continue to focus on offering precisely those products that generate the highest contribution margin for us", says Martin Bauer. This will be achieved through algorithms that identify profitable products fully automatically and also take over order management for these products. "Our target for 2024 is a 25 percent growth with a continued positive margin", continues Weis.
