ASICS Europe continues to grow its business across the European continent by delivering an overall net sales increase of 9% between January and December 2012, following a strong last quarter of the year, and reaching overall net sales of €600 million.
ASICS performed particularly well in performance running – the brand’s leading strategic category – with running apparel sales increasing by 43%, and running footwear increasing by 10%.
In tennis, ASICS recorded impressive double digit growth figures in apparel and footwear. ASICS also posted strong results in ‘core performance sports’ footwear, such as volleyball, handball, court sports as well as sports accessories.
The key regions that contributed to the revenue growth across Europe included ASICS Benelux, which posted a solid single digit growth. ASICS Germany, France and Scandinavia provided strong double digit growth; and Spain, Poland and Russia delivered ‘outstanding figures’. Sales in ASICS’ own retail outlets increased by nearly 70%.
NPD Sports Tracking Europe data indicated that during 2012 ASICS grew faster than the total sports footwear market (+7.4% versus +3.4% overall), the running footwear market (+8.2% versus +8.0%), the performance tennis footwear market (+30.2% versus +7.2%) and the sports apparel market (+19.0% versus +1.0%) underlining ASICS’ position as a leading sports performance brand.
The NPD data tracking 2012 (January-December) also highlight the success of ASICS’ natural running collection – ASICS 33 – which has ‘not only become the third biggest concept in the natural running category in Germany, but also in France.’
With an extended collection and new innovations, ‘ASICS continues to gain market share in this segment – the fastest growing category in running.’
Alistair Cameron, CEO of ASICS Europe BV said “Despite the challenging trading conditions of 2012, ASICS has recorded excellent growth in Europe. Importantly, the revenue increase is well balanced across a range of product categories and regions.
“We expect 2013 to be strong, supported by our continued investment in media and with our apparel sales taking off, we are well on the way to our ambitious growth targets.”
