Inspiring the Next Generation
Established in 1981 with a single store in the North West of England, the JD Group is a leading global omni-channel retailer of sports fashion. In this interview, we spend some time with Regis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports to learn more about the company’s past, its present and its future.
At its core, JD wants to be the leading global sports fashion powerhouse and they provide their customers with the latest and exclusive products from their strategic partnerships with the most-loved premium brands – including Nike, Adidas and The North Face, along with strong private labels such as Pink Soda and Supply & Demand – through a compelling proposition in stores and online.
The vision of the business is to inspire the emerging generation of consumers through a connection to the universal culture of sport, music and fashion – and this focus has allowed JD to grow from a single shop to a global leader with more than 3,300 stores. The mission behind the Group is to continuously set the global standard for retail experience through best-in-class operations, connected consumer experiences and the unique delivery of the world’s most authentic brands to the market.
The company’s primarily young customers want to shop in an environment where they can navigate between brands that they know as well as discovering new ones and where staff members look like their friends and the music is the artists they love. Wherever people decide to step into a JD store around the world, this is what they will find.
Since JD first opened its doors in the UK 43 years ago and overseas in France in 2009, it has continued to expand around the world through its strategy of delivering organic growth and successful mergers and acquisitions. Today the company operates across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.
“We set out our strategic vision at our Capital Markets Day in February 2023, including our plans to increase our store portfolio in key strategic markets. Last year we delivered against our strategy to open over 200 new JD stores in the year, including in Aventura in Miami, US, Colombo in Lisbon, Portugal, Pitt Street in Sydney, Australia and Porta di Roma in Italy,” explains Regis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports. “What is important to us is that the look and feel of JD stores is the same regardless of location – and we know it works because when JD opens high-profile stores, customers queue around the block.”
The business is constantly looking at what opportunities lie ahead and ways it can evolve and expand and last year they announced their intention to grow further globally through franchise agreements. Since then, they have signed two agreements with Gulf Marketing Group and The Foschini Group to bring JD to the Middle East and South Africa respectively, to expand further into underpenetrated markets.
As our conversation moves onto the future of retail and customer loyalty, Schultz highlights that JD are continuously identifying new ways to engage with customers and provide them with a market-leading omni-channel experience across their much-loved sports fashion brands.
“Our ‘Beyond Physical Retail’ approach means a laser-like focus on omni-channel, as we continue to increase our investment, both in people and our digital capabilities, to drive internal operating efficiencies while improving the customer experience.”
A recent example of this was the expansion of their JD STATUS app across Britain in October last year. They look forward to extending the reach of the app across Europe as we expand our loyalty offering globally, as part of our strategic drive to be the leading global sports-fashion powerhouse.
Like all companies must be in today’s world, the Group is very focused on ESG and take their impact on society very seriously. They continue to make good progress against their three sustainability priorities of reducing the impact of climate change, improving and advocating for Sustainable Sourcing and working towards a Circular Economy. The business is also passionate about social mobility, championing early careers initiatives such as apprenticeships to inspire the future generations and raising over £5.9M via the JD Foundation since it was founded in October 2015.
JD’s strong success and progress over the last decade or so has been driven by their strong understanding of and connection with their customers, their experienced teams and deep relationships with their strategic brand partners. Customers and brand partners alike recognise their differentiated offer as a lifestyle brand with a curated, often exclusive, product range.
“Our brand ethos is all about innovation, creativity and competitiveness. We respect each member of our team and everyone is encouraged to put forward their ideas, regardless of how big or small, as dynamic thinking is what drives the business to be competitive,” Schultz explains.
To end the interview, we ask the CEO what lies ahead and what does he perceive to be the greatest challenge facing both him and the company as a whole?
“We operate in global markets that are highly competitive, where consumers have every possible detail about product purchases at their fingertips on their mobile device. To stay ahead of the pack, you have to be at the top of your game. Like all retailers, we also face macro-economic challenges and a degree of uncertainty given the number of political elections in major countries globally this year,” Schultz highlights.
“That said, JD is extremely well placed to take advantage of the growth opportunities ahead and we believe we have a winning strategy. There is also much to look forward to this year, including major sporting events which will hopefully encourage greater levels of interest in the sports fashion sector.”
Regis Schultz, CEO of JD Sports will be speaking at The Retail Summit event that is taking place at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai, UAE on 23-24 April.
