- Huw Hughes
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Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has called for sportswear giants Nike and
Adidas to be investigated over their domination in the industry.
The news comes after an article from The Sunday Times published this
week said Nike would be ending supply deals with several independent
retailers, stating that their way of stocking its goods was “no longer
aligned” with Nike’s distribution strategy. According to the report,
retailers are now concerned that Adidas will do the same.
Sports Direct said it “believes that the industry as a whole would benefit from
a wide market review by the appropriate authorities in both the UK and
Europe.”
The company continued: “The sports industry has long
been dominated by the ‘must-have’ brands such as Adidas. These ‘must-have’
brands hold an extremely strong bargaining position vis-à-vis the retailers
within their supply networks and use their market power to implement
market-wide practices aimed at controlling the supply and, ultimately, the
pricing of their products,” the company said in a statement.
Sports Direct said it has “long fought against such practices” and has
been disadvantaged by brands like Adidas withdrawing supplies of key
products, citing replica Chelsea football shirts being withdrawn from
Sports Direct’s stores in 2013.
Photo credit: Sports Direct, Facebook
