2023 will be the year of the internationalization of Fútbol Emotion. The company, a benchmark in the distribution and sale of football sports articles and equipment, has set itself the goal of being a more international company, in addition to advocating omnichannel.
“We have two strategic projects very important for next year”, says Carlos Sánchez Broto, CEO and co-founder of Fútbol Emotion, to theEconomyyesta
Specifically, the company’s plans focus on gaining a presence in foreign markets with its e-commerce, physical stores and the B2B line of club kits.
Italy is one of the countries in which the focus has been placed in this internationalization process to go with the omnichannel model, as well as Mexico, where it will have a logistics warehouse to supply its products to the final customer and which will also be operational in 2023.
The company sells with its ecommerce to more than 200 countries, this channel concentrating 90% of sales, but in the core (Spain, Portugal, France and Italy) “we are going to bet on the omnichannelthat is, by e-commerce, physical stores and the B2B line”. In fact, this is the Portuguese model, where the company is already doing it and the one that is contemplated for Italy. Furthermore, in France, “we are also considering the possibility that it will be in 2023”. However, Fútbol Emotion will go with a different operation to Mexico in order to have a logistics warehouse to supply from there and not from Zaragoza and gain and speed up times.
Currently, the turnover of Fútbol Emotion corresponds to a 50% with foreign sales and 50% national market. “We don’t want to stay just as the leading operator in southern Europe, but to be world leaders in the sector in a period of between 10 and 15 years,” adds Carlos Sánchez Broto.
The company’s expansion plans in turn pass through Zaragoza, the city where the Zaragoza Logistics Platform (PlaZa) is based. Precisely at this location they are building a new logistics warehouse, right next to the current center. In the first half of 2023, the new company facilities will be inaugurated, in which an investment of around one million euros has been made. “Before the pandemic, we moved to a new 6,500-square-meter logistics warehouse and 1,500 square meters of offices, but the space has become too small for us.”
The company will also continue with its growth plan in the different lines of business. In the case of physical stores, now having 21 establishments, 2 of which are in Portugal and 19 in Spain. The forecast is “open more stores, between 6 and 7 per year. They will all be flaship“, following the line of the recently inaugurated, last October, in Parque Oeste, in Madrid, of 3,500 square meters and with which Fútbol Emotion has started this project.
It plans to open between 5 and 6 stores a year, all flagship
“It is a store in which you have all the products, all the omnichannel processes and, really, there is a unique experience for the consumer. This store model, of more than 1,500 square meters, in places where there is traffic is the new model we want for the coming years” and to which the current stores will be transformed.
Another of the company’s objectives is “not only to put the consumer at the center of all decisions, which is important, but also the data. We have a data project that we want to launch at the retail level. It is everything that is customer data, transnational data… We are working on a project that is going to be something different at the retail level” and with which it is expected to also be a benchmark in this field.
Organic growth
Fútbol Emotion’s future plan is based on the growth that the company has been experiencing since its birth in 2001 as Soloporteros to market products for goalkeepers. Diversification and omnichannel have been key in the evolution of the company, as have the new areas of activity such as the B2B line, launched four years ago and with which it is expected to exceed the 11 million euros in turnover in 2022. In addition, Fútbol Emotion has partnerships with Adidas and Nike, brands that only “plan to sell to the end customer and support few distributors, but we are omnichannel”, as well as other firms such as Puma.
The company expects to close 2022 (fiscal year from January to December) billing close to 50 million euros compared to 33.5 million euros in 2021. “The numbers are above what we had raised. The company is growing above 50% organically. In a context of inflation and low demand, growing at these digits is a sign that we are doing things very well. We are growing in all lines: in ecommerce, which is the company’s flagship; we are growing exponentially in all physical Fútbol Emotion stores and in B2B. The numbers are supporting us”.
It plans to close 2022 with a turnover of around 50 million euros and 370 jobs
The growth has also had translation in the job. Currently, Fútbol Emotion has 370 professionals, which represents an increase of more than 70% in personnel. The forecast is to increase the workforce between 50% and 60% more in 2023.
Recently, Fútbol Emotion has received the SME of the Year Award 2022 in Zaragoza, granted by the Chamber of Commerce of Zaragoza and Banco Santander, in addition to having also been awarded the Ecommerce Awards 2022 as the best ecommerce in Spain, among other recognitions in This exercise. “It is a source of pride, being hands-on and from the land, and when there is a lot of competition and many very good digital companies. It is being like a final touch”, affirms Carlos Sánchez Broto, who adds that these recognitions take place in a historic year in the that “a lot has happened.”
And not only the positive evolution of the results obtained and future plans. “The founding partners have decided not to continue with the investment fund, the one we had as shareholders, and another partner has joined with whom we are super happy.” Meridia Capital has been replaced by the Tansley Group (a group of companies dedicated to consumer ecosystems around hobbies and passions).
Fútbol Emotion reinforces its activity abroad with Italy and Mexico