E-Commerce 🤝 Sports

4 minute read · Issue Number 94 · November 12th, 2021

Nov 12, 2021

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It’s no secret that e-commerce has been one of the main disrupting trends of the last decade.

People enjoy shopping and buying things online as an alternative to physical stores.

The timing couldn’t be better for electronic commerce.

The rise of the internet, connected devices, access to information, and better distribution & communication infrastructures allowed billions worldwide to ship & shop with remarkable ease.

How does that relate to the sports industry, Ronen? – I’m glad you asked.

Sports is a massive industry that sells thousands of products, services, and experiences along hundreds of verticals to millions of fans and customers worldwide.

Huge industries and significant technological trends will always cross paths in one or many ways.

Here are a few verticals in sports that already benefit or are in the process of gaining the most from this collab:

Teams & Merch Stores

We all love the mega merch stores of our favorite teams. However, unless you live in that team’s city or you attend the stadium, you’ll have a hard time acquiring non-generic merchandise from your favorite team.

Most of a team’s worldwide fanbase will never even attend their stadium in their lifetimes.

E-commerce enables clubs to sell and distribute to their fanbase worldwide.

Apparel and Equipment

Think of all the companies out there where you buy athletic clothing, footwear, wearables, or equipment. All these are already building and/or having recurring online sales.

Like Nike and Gymshark in clothing, Asics and Footlocker in footwear, Garmin and Fitbit for wearables, or Champion and Dick’s Sporting Goods for equipment.

So are you suggesting all physical retail stores will eventually disappear, Ronen?

Well, not exactly. The reason?

People will still want to try stuff out before buying to test the level of comfort, fit, and personality match.

However, the easier buying things online, the less frequent people visit the stores.

Ticketing

Sports and venue operators will benefit from e-commerce due to the efficiency of selling and distributing admissions for events online.

I wonder if kids in future generations will think we were crazy for printing billions of papers to get into sporting events.

The Bottom Line

It has become increasingly evident that e-commerce is here to stay, and the number of product-based companies establishing online stores is growing fast!

Sports is not an exception.

Electronic commerce allows sellers to:

Increase their reach (i.e., tap their global audience)
Optimize distribution (i.e., electronic tickets)
Save money on physical stores

And it allows buyers to:

Save time and effort by shopping from the comfort of their couch
Acquire merch, apparel, and equipment faster and easier from anywhere in the world

🎙 Halftime Snack of the Week

Venture Capital in Sports Betting & Online Gaming

Lloyd Danzig is one of the leaders driving the disruption and innovation of the sports industry.

He’s the managing partner of Sharp Alpha Advisors – a venture capital firm focused on sports betting and online gaming technologies.

He recently raised a $10 million fund through Sharp Alpha Advisors to invest in seed and Series A sports betting start-ups.

Listen to learn:

How does a regular week look like for a VC in sports?
How will Lloyd manage the 10 million USD fund?
Why do sports betting, online gaming, and digital collectibles have a bright future?

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