Any company looking to sell sports goods in France should get to know the five main distributors. They dominate the sector, accounting for about two-thirds of all sports trade.
Of the five giant sports retail chains, two of them, Decathlon and GoSport, have integrated nation-wide networks. They captured about 40% of the total French sports goods market in 2003 and have enjoyed the fastest growth. Their share has doubled in the last 10 years. Their stores have tended to become larger and, because of this, are increasingly found on the outskirts of town.
The other three large groups are InterSport, Sport 2000 and Technicien du Sport. They are organised as a network of associated independent traders or franchised shops. They accounted for about 20% of the total sports good market in France in 2003.
Besides these five big retailers, sports goods are also sold via specialised sports stores (SkiSet, Foot Locker, Bouticycle to name a few). These tend to be smaller and therefore found within city centres. General clothing and footwear stores account for about 15% of sports goods while hyper/supermarkets made up just 10% of the market.
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