After recently closing the books on a quarter where e-commerce sales in Germany leveled off, Revolutionrace is now choosing to ramp up its physical presence in the country. Later this fall, the e-commerce retailer will open a new store in the Westfield Centro shopping center, located in the city of Oberhausen.
The establishment is taking place in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is an area with nearly 20 million inhabitants that includes cities such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund.
According to the company, this is the region in Germany where they currently have the strongest foothold, and the new store marks a step towards meeting customers even outside of the online realm.
We are pleased to open our first store in Germany, which is our largest market. Opening a store here is a natural next step after the establishment of physical stores in Sweden, says CEO Paul Fischbein.
Meeting a sluggish e-commerce market
The investment in a physical store comes at a time when the German market has recently proven challenging for the company. Last week, Revolutionrace presented its annual report, which showed that sales growth in the DACH region stalled at 3 percent during the last quarter.
However, for the entire group, the financial year ended with a turnover of 2 billion Swedish krona, which corresponds to an increase of 5 percent. Operating profit, in turn, increased by 18 percent and landed on 422 million Swedish krona.
The new year also started with the summer acquisition of the training brand Icaniwill, as part of the company's new strategy to grow through acquisitions.
Wants to reach new customers over the counter
The focus is now on completing the premises in Westfield Centro ahead of the fall opening. By taking a place in one of the country's largest shopping centers, the goal is to nurture the relationship with customers who already know the brand, and at the same time capture completely new buyers who move in the mall.
It allows us to strengthen our presence with existing customers in the region while reaching new customers through one of Germany's largest shopping centers. This is an important milestone for Revolutionrace, says Paul Fischbein.
An exact date for when the store will receive its first visitors has not yet been set. The e-commerce retailer states that the details surrounding the opening day will be presented later.