Online running shoes and outdoor gear retailer picks up the pace

Retailer SportsShoes.com has hailed successful product launches as key to its strategy as it publishes its results for the first quarter of the financial year from 1 March 2023.

Turnover has now hit £83.8m, with first quarter turnover for the financial year up 20% year-on-year and 140,000 new customers acquired in the same period.

During the first quarter, the Shipley-headquartered retailer also secured orders from 200,000 repeat customers.

 Established in 1982, SportsShoes.com currently offers customers more than 17,000 products from 150 global running and outdoor brands.

The online running shoes, running clothing and outdoor gear retailer attributes its strong start to the year to a combination of running shoe launches and partnerships with the wider athlete community.

One of these was the Podium 5K breaking 10 event, where British distance runner Emile Cairess broke the European 10-mile run record.

Managing director, Brett Bannister, said: “We have developed strong momentum over our first quarter and hope to carry this on throughout the rest of our financial year.

“The success we have had with product launches for our brand partners has been amazing. Outstanding product launches are absolutely central to what we do and they are key to our strategy going forward.

“At the same time, our inventive activation initiatives have had an excellent positive impact. In particular, they connect us and our brand partners with our athlete community from the elite to the casual runner.

“We know that if we continue to concentrate on combining outstanding product launches with high profile and empowering activation initiatives, the increased sales and customer numbers will follow.”

These results follow the company’s confirmation that it has opened a 10,750 sq ft creative and tech hub next to its Shipley head office and warehouse facilities.

Called Unit 2, the hub can accommodate 100 people over two floors and represents a £2.5m investment as part of ongoing strategic growth plan. Unit 2 now houses the business’s digital, marketing, commercial and management teams.