More than market observers have pointed out that the Italian consumer loyalty to individual sports clothing brand before, but prefer good quality and cheap prices of products.
Even though internationally renowned brands still dominate the Italian sports apparel market, the economic crisis has prompted consumers to buy discounted and affordable products. Like most industries, the sales of sportswear have been affected by the diminished demand, which has been declining in the past few months. Italy's sportswear industry with a total turnover of about 4.5 billion euros, but is expected to fall nearly 2% this year.
Nonetheless, some businesses can still maintain their steady income and even grow. Among them, Cisalfa, a large retailer, is one example. Cisalfa, based in Osio Sopra, Italy, focuses on household consumption groups, opening 125 retail stores and opening three major stores by the end of the year.
Another large sports apparel company opened in Italy is French-owned Decathlon. Decathlon has aggressively expanded over the past few years by setting up 52 large stores in Italy to become a major sportswear apparel retailer in the region.
Cisalfa and Decathlon, in addition to Nike, Puma and Adidas, also source their own branded sports apparel, which have seen their profits continue to grow over the past few years.
Two major retailers adopt different strategies to promote their own branded products. First, Decathlon founded several private labels such as Quechua, Kalenji and Tribord for sale in retail stores. Cisalfa, on the other hand, has re-established the brand name of well-known and popular brands in the past, including Best Company and Ellesse. These two brands together account for a quarter of Cisalfa's sales.
Both retail groups hope that they will gain greater control over the price chain and increase their sales of cheap items to cater for consumers' demands for cheap products. Retailers have purchased from suppliers in Hong Kong and Mainland China in order to reduce the selling price of their products and to maintain their product quality.