ASICS reports strong sales growth
ASICS has announced solid growth across its EMEA region in the first three quarters of 2016. Net sales rose by 4% to €695 million.
The sportswear brand said the increase was largely driven by strong growth in its running category. Footwear sales in the category climbed by 6% while apparel saw an uplift of 3%. The brand’s lifestyle category, ASICS Tiger, also performed well with sales rising by 54%.
Sales in ASICS’ own retail outlets grew by 16%.
During the period, ASICS launched its new running shoe, DynaFlyte. This features the innovative material FlyteFoam, which was developed in ASICS’ Institute of Sport Science. ASICS plans to expand FlyteFoam into a new series of ‘fast’ running shoe models launching in spring 2017.
The most recent quarter saw ASICS launch its new Global Digital Division which will focus on innovative digital technologies. The Boston based division is led by Jason Jacobs, founder and chief executive of RunKeeper, which was acquired by ASICS in 2016.
ASICS has also opened a new customer experience centre in Barcelona to centrally manage all consumer interactions for the EMEA region, with the aim of delivering cutting edge customer service.
Alistair Cameron, chief executive of ASICS Europe, said: “In 2016, our focus on a more consumer centric approach and streamlining of our distribution – with focus on fewer, more high-quality accounts offering a more diverse product range – has resulted in healthy growth across the business.
“There have been clear strides forward in building a stronger brand between performance and lifestyle and we’ve put digital marketing at the heart of our communications.”
