KILIAN JORNET BORN TO RUN - Amer Sports

understand consumers, especially the changes in their
behavior. It is crucial to identify these changes because it
helps us make products or services that are truly unique
and better than competition,” Duran explains.
Another important reason is that brand stores also
boost sales in traditional distribution channels. Salomon’s
example is indisputable proof that the model really works.
“Many brands still believe that opening their own store
leads to competition with their customers—and that’s
what it may feel like at first. However, experience clearly
shows that when you open a store, demand for products
also increases in the region’s other retail businesses.
When demand begins to rise and the region’s other retailers
see what you have to offer, they too want to jump on
board. In the end, it’s a win-win-situation.”
The third reason is that brand stores establish the
brand more prominently in people’s minds.
“Salomon’s 100 plus stores have already created ten
million new interfaces between the brand and consumers,”
Clausse estimates.
Interaction between the brand and consumers is most
efficient in brand stores where the products are displayed
in just the right kind of environment and interior. A Salomon
store in the center of a big city is like a little piece of
the mountains where you can almost feel a fresh breeze.
“Of course, our retailers know how to tell our story. The
problem, however, is that they also tell the story of others.
In an environment of our own, we can tell the brand story
ourselves instead of having others speak for us,” says
Duran.
Brand stores are also useful for product development,
helping to ensure that new products are to the customers’
liking. They also speed up the whole process.
“We decided to display the new shoe in our brand
stores during product development and used customer
feedback to create the final design,” notes Clausse.
Stores that are run by the company quickly show
exactly which products sell well and which do not.
“We currently get this information too late. Our best
products sell out, while other products may pile up in the
warehouse. A change of just five to ten percent in favor of
our best-selling products would make a huge impact,”
says Duran.
Leverage our company’s scale
A single-brand store is a straightforward concept, but is
it possible to mix several brands in one store?
“Each brand must be unique, have a distinctive positioning
and create its own dream, which we can can then
carry into the market place. If this is done well, it opens a
lot of doors for us. We obviously have a number of monobrand
stores, but we also have a lot of multi-brand stores
as well. Going forward, we will leverage our scale across
the company as this will let us grow more quickly and
New business
in two years
Before joining Amer Sports, Victor Duran had a long
career at Procter & Gamble, the Global consumer
goods company. So what can the sports equipment
industry learn from the fast moving consumer goods
business?
“Before answering that question, I’d like to start by
saying that there are a lot of things the P&G’s of the
world could learn from Amer Sports. Across all of our
brands, I have seen an incredible 1-1 connection with our
consumers – particularly the top level and influencers.
This allows us to be at the leading edge of performance
in many of our categories. Large companies tend to
primarily rely on quantitative information, but many
times they miss the true insights that come from
personal knowledge.”
“On the other hand, there are some principles I
think we can apply here. When planning a new business,
Procter & Gamble spends a lot of time determining how
big of an opportunity it is dealing with,” Duran explains.
“Once it is certain about the size of the opportunity
and the model used to achieve it, the company heads
toward the goal as quickly as possible. Using this
approach, Procter & Gamble can create a significant
business in three to four years. This is what we plan to
do now. We have specific targets between now and 2016,
a detailed plan to get there, and a good probability of
success.”
According to Duran, the beginning has been
promising.
“Salomon has spent the last few years creating and
testing its retail model. We know for sure that it works.
Now we need to leverage this experience, develop the
right model for our other brands and grow as quickly as
possible.”
efficiently,” says Duran.
Some combinations make sense nevertheless.
“Arc’teryx, Salomon and Suunto are strong players
in the outdoor world. Together they would form a more
attractive shopping place for consumers than on their
own. In ski resorts, where ski testing is a vital part of
service, Salomon and Atomic can operate perfectly well
in the same facilities,” Clausse explains.
“This model will, in fact, be tested in practice on the
Sölden glaciers this fall. A third possible form of joint
operations is an outlet where price is crucial in addition to
the brand image”.
Cooperation will, in any case, be an essential element
of the B2C strategy.
“Amer Sports will really benefit from leveraging scale
in both retail and e-commerce across all of our brands.
We will be able to create something only once and then
quickly roll it out across the company,” Duran adds.
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