Dick's Sporting Goods
The External Environment
Competition
Sports Authority: First and foremost, a major competitor of Dick’s Sporting Goods is Sports Authority. Sports Authority is an industry leader providing a wide variety of brand-name sporting goods, relatively similar to Dick’s. The store’s headquarters is located in Englewood, Colorado. According to Yahoo Finance, “The company operates over 450 stores in 45 U.S. states very similar to Dick’s 500 stores in 44 U.S. states. As of 2011, employment consisted of 14,250 associates.” Funding Universe described the history of Sports Authority in their article, The Sports Authority, Inc. History. The article projects a timeline about the history of Sports Authority and their relationship with Kmart. In summary of the article, Sports Authority opened its first store in 1987 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kmart acquired the company in 1990 and through their financial support; Sports Authority was able to expand. After a year of Kmart’s financial aid, revenue rose to $240 million bringing the company its first profitable year. By 1993, Sports Authority had enough financial strength that they no longer needed to depend on Kmart. It was essential for Sports Authority to separate itself from Kmart because the company was suffering from new competition, Walmart. By 2006, Sports Authority agreed to be purchased by private equity investment firm, Leonard Green & Partners. The most recent growth within the company came in 2010. The company launched a new store brand “S.A. Elite” similar to Sports Authority, but carries more high-end sports apparel and accessories Sports Authority is a private company therefore access to financial information is hard at retrieve. Numbers retrieved are questionable since their financial information is private. Similar to Dick’s, their target market is focused on customers who are involved or interested in athletics. Although athletes are the prime target market, many purchases are made from parents,
Competition
Sports Authority: First and foremost, a major competitor of Dick’s Sporting Goods is Sports Authority. Sports Authority is an industry leader providing a wide variety of brand-name sporting goods, relatively similar to Dick’s. The store’s headquarters is located in Englewood, Colorado. According to Yahoo Finance, “The company operates over 450 stores in 45 U.S. states very similar to Dick’s 500 stores in 44 U.S. states. As of 2011, employment consisted of 14,250 associates.” Funding Universe described the history of Sports Authority in their article, The Sports Authority, Inc. History. The article projects a timeline about the history of Sports Authority and their relationship with Kmart. In summary of the article, Sports Authority opened its first store in 1987 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Kmart acquired the company in 1990 and through their financial support; Sports Authority was able to expand. After a year of Kmart’s financial aid, revenue rose to $240 million bringing the company its first profitable year. By 1993, Sports Authority had enough financial strength that they no longer needed to depend on Kmart. It was essential for Sports Authority to separate itself from Kmart because the company was suffering from new competition, Walmart. By 2006, Sports Authority agreed to be purchased by private equity investment firm, Leonard Green & Partners. The most recent growth within the company came in 2010. The company launched a new store brand “S.A. Elite” similar to Sports Authority, but carries more high-end sports apparel and accessories Sports Authority is a private company therefore access to financial information is hard at retrieve. Numbers retrieved are questionable since their financial information is private. Similar to Dick’s, their target market is focused on customers who are involved or interested in athletics. Although athletes are the prime target market, many purchases are made from parents,