In sporting goods, one size doesn’t fit all
Chain learns to tailor items it sells to regional markets
ACADEMY Sports + Outdoors had a busy year of building last year: opening new stores at a rapid pace, constructing a distribution center in Tennessee and expanding its Katy corporate headquarters.
The retailer added 18 stores in 2014, an expansion that helped boost its annual revenue to $4 billion, up from $3.9 billion in 2013, when Academy opened 16 stores.
Most of last year’s stores opened in new Academy markets in the Midwest, including Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri. Those are growth markets that President and CEO Rodney Faldyn said will continue to drive the company’s expansion over the next several years. It plans to open 20 stores this year, with nine already open as of early June.
Academy employs more than 22,500 people, with about 5,500 in the Houston area.
It came in at No. 2 on the Chronicle’s list of top private companies, up from No. 5 last year.
Driving its success in the areas it enters, Faldyn said, is the research done to stock stores with merchandise that meets local tastes.
“For example, saltwater fishing is big in Texas, but fly fishing is big in Tennessee, and soccer might be big in one market but lacrosse is bigger in other markets,” he said.
“It’s an ongoing learning curve, but there is a payoff when you go into these markets being relevant.”
To assist in this process, Academy went live last year with a threeyear investment in merchandising software that helps with strategic merchandising and store product placement.
Last year, Academy expanded departments that were growing in popularity, including youth and women’s active wear and athletic wear.
More shelf space was also devoted to the sports electronics, sports supplements and sports nutrition segments.
Academy continued to expand its online business, nearly doubling those sales volume for the third year in a row after the company invested in more digital and mobile applications.