Only a few big companies, having a diverse range of products, are on their toes for massive expansion, optimising individual allocation and replenishment decisions with AI; appointing experienced talent by creating new positions at the CXO level; focusing more on their private labels; and having a strong focus on sustainability. US-based Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc., is one such company.
The US $ 6.2 billion company was founded in 1938 as a family business in Texas and now has 283 stores across 18 states. It has further plans to open 160 to 180 new stores during the next five years.
Steve Lawrence, CEO of the company recently said, “As we move into 2025 and beyond, our goal will be to go into new markets, with a greater density of new store openings around the same time. The result of all this work is that we believe we have an opportunity to open up, even more stores than we initially modelled in our long-range plan.”
Just a few months back, the company appointed its first-ever Chief Customer Officer and a new Chief Supply Chain Officer, Chad Fox.
Key offerings
Its product assortment focuses on key categories such as outdoor, apparel, sports and recreation and footwear including top national brands as well as 19 exclusive private label brands (Magellan, Freely, BCG to mention a few). Apparel contributes 28 per cent in the total sales of the company.
Specific to apparel, the company has a large range of outdoor and seasonal apparel for men, women and kids including denim, work apparel, graphic T-shirts and accessories, sporting and fitness apparel, professional and collegiate team-licensed apparel, accessories and camouflage apparel for hunting. For the company, softgoods merchandise division (apparel and footwear) has higher margins than hardgoods merchandise divisions (outdoors and sports and recreation). Academy Sports and Outdoors has experienced a shift in its sales mix from outdoors and sports and recreation merchandise divisions to footwear and apparel merchandise divisions, which generally has a positive impact on the gross margin rate.
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Thrust on private labels
The retailer’s assortment of private-label products account for approximately 22 per cent of its business. One of its flagship labels, Freely, was launched in 2021 to fill the void of offering ‘better’ products with strong value.
Lori Fike, Senior Vice President and General Merchandise Manager of the company said, “We launched the line just for women. Later we added plus sizes and girls’ sizes to the line, added swimwear last year and this year, we included an accessories line. Our other notable addition this year is a new commuter line that we’re calling Court line. It includes comfortable clothing that could be worn at the gym and then when meeting a friend.”
Academy Sports and Outdoors’ other private label named BCG is more of an opening price point line that is inclined to the athletic side of the business. The company’s product offerings include 100 per cent cotton; 76 per cent nylon and 24 per cent spandex; 90 per cent polyester and 10 per cent spandex; 80 per cent polyester, 18 per cent rayon and 2 per cent spandex etc. It also offers products with features like moisture-wicking technology that pulls sweat away from the skin and provides UPF sun protection. Academy Sports and Outdoors is not behind when it comes to sustainability as it is aiming that by the end of 2024, 35 per cent of its private label apparel will be made from recycled material and 50 per cent of its private label apparel packaging will be made from recycled materials.
