p18,19 Brand Profile 9/19/08 11:11 AM Page 19
www.sgb-sports.com
Sports Retail - PROFILE
SGB
Sports and Outdoor
the premium end rackets and right across the board,
including schools and recreation.
SGB: How are you going to reach the other 2,950,000 players
that aren't affiliated to a club, in order to grow?
SY: That's the golden question. Some of those players are
completely inaccessible; they will make a decision to buy
in-store. They all have to buy somewhere though. They
either have to buy new rackets or replace an old or broken
one. Our focus there is to ensure that when the decision to
buy is made, we are the brand that they consider to be first
choice. That means we have to be in the places they are
buying and we have to make a good value for money
offer. With that in mind, one of our main focuses is in
product development and offering consumers the best
value product on the market.
The affiliated players are easier to communicate with,
because they'll read magazines or use internet chatrooms
about badminton, and so we can reach them through a
variety of means.
SGB: Is there a benefit to the badminton side of the business
from the squash and tennis sides of the business? Are there
associated technologies?
SY: There are huge benefits in terms of the size and scale of
the Wilson operation. We have an R&D facility which is
second to none in terms of racket technology, so we're
able to do things with racket development that a lot of
other companies just can’t do. What people will see in the
near future – starting this year – is innovative technologies
coming through, like K Factor for example, and new
materials and features which produce different types of
performance. We're investing a lot of time and effort in
new product development in badminton products.
We don't simply think it's a question of taking
something that works in tennis and slapping it on a
badminton racket; we're very much of the opinion that
technologies should be developed specifically for this
sport. It's not a question of cutting and pasting things
that work in tennis or squash, which some companies
have been seen to do.
My background is within badminton as a specialist in
the sport, and I have some insight into the game, what's
required at every level of participation, and to be able to
put those features onto rackets.
SGB: What are your plans to reach out to and support have a sales promotion for sports shops and accounts that leagues and events with those; the response has been
independent retailers? offers consumers a free t-shirt and a set of strings and absolutely overwhelming. Feather shuttles have been
SY: We have one of the strongest and best sales forces in grips with every racket they buy. As I said, we want to give subject to a lot of price pressure over the last six months
the UK sports industry. We have guys on the road with a the best value for money offer on the high street, and and our competitors have been passing along huge price
portfolio of retail accounts, working hard, calling on their hopefully it will help independents sell more rackets. increases at regular intervals. We've locked our prices on
accounts, and are able to offer a service that's second to We also have window displays, in-store merchandising, shuttles for this entire season and a lot of trade customers
none for sports equipment. Wilson is part of the Amer lots and lots of things to give retail support, which is have responded to that very positively.
Sports group, which is really beneficial. readily available to retailers. Of course, we have a good range of everything for the
The small independents, the one-offs, they are hugely As the nights draw in, we can really start to raise the sport, from full badminton kit on the apparel side, to
important for equipment companies like us, because it's profile of badminton as a sport over the winter period to footwear and a full range of accessories, including luggage
becoming increasingly difficult to find places to buy mutual benefit. and strings, grips et cetera.
tennis, squash or badminton rackets. They are very much Wilson is very much putting out a message of being a
a key part of our distribution strategy. SGB: What's new and exciting in terms of product? complete, top-to-toe brand in badminton - and it's
One of the other things we've come up with for this SY: Apart from the K Factor series of rackets, which are something we will be building on over the next few years.
season is to put a lot of resource and time into our sales really excellent and have had a great start in their sell-
promotion initiatives. For example, with our premium to through, we've launched a range of very serious feather Web address: www.wilson.com
mid-end badminton rackets - the K Factor series - we shuttles - the Top Line series. We're targeting clubs,
SEPTEMBER 2008 19
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