Atlanta, Georgia - 11 May, 1999 -

The Athlete's Foot Group Inc. announced a partnership with Global Sports Interactive to develop an electronic commerce site that will allow the shoe retailer to rapidly expand its global market reach. The new web site will feature a full line of athletic footwear and is expected to launch in time for the 1999 holiday shopping season. Remaining true to The Athlete's Foot's technical edge philosophy, the site will educate consumers by providing information from The Athlete's Foot's Research and Development Center on how to choose proper athletic footwear based on foot type and physical activity. Additionally, the site will feature product information on all major brands of athletic footwear. "The launch of The Athlete's Foot's e-commerce site is a further extension of our position as the world's definitive authority on technical and performance athletic footwear," stated Robert J. Corliss, president and CEO of The Athlete's Foot. "As the world's first athletic footwear specialty retailer, The Athlete's Foot continues to seek new opportunities for growth and expansion in the global marketplace, even as the athletic footwear market overall is struggling. Through e-commerce, we will instantly have a presence in virtually every market in the world and will leverage that presence to build brand awareness for our growing global network of retail stores." "The new e-commerce site will not replace the retail store format, but will be an extension of our stores," added Corliss. "The Athlete's Foot is aggressively expanding the retail store format through innovative franchise agreements, both nationally and internationally. The Athlete's Foot projected growth strategy for 1999 includes both corporate and franchise stores around the world and is expected to increase the total number of stores to more than 800." According to industry projections, worldwide e-commerce sales will reach as high as $3.2 trillion in 2003, representing nearly 5 percent of all global sales. Last year, e-commerce represented a $13 billion market and it is continuing to grow exponentially. The Athlete's Foot web site will provide convenience, combined with a high level of customer service, to an ever increasing e-commerce marketplace. The Athlete's Foot Group Inc. is a privately owned international athletic footwear retailer, operating more than 700 corporate and franchise stores in 40-plus countries. The Atlanta-based company is the only retailer that operates its own independent Research and Development Center, which evaluates every major athletic shoe brand for construction, durability and performance. The Athlete's Foot was named Success magazine's number one franchise opportunity for 1997.

This article has been read 987 times .