As Go Outdoors opens the “largest outdoor store in Europe”, Retail Week spoke to chief executive Lee Bagnall about the outdoors market, the outsized role weather plays in it and his mission to cater to everyone from dog walkers to mountaineers
The UK has just recorded its coolest summer since 2015 – the average mean temperature was 14.37°C – ramming home once again how unpredictable weather remains one of the industry’s biggest problems.
For outdoor pursuits specialists such as Go Outdoors, navigating volatile weather weather fluctuations can be even harder, says chief executive Lee Bagnall.
As the retailer took over a former John Lewis store in York to open the “largest outdoor store” in Europe, it has come a long way since its owner JD Sports put it into administration in 2020, only to buy it back in a pre-pack deal the following week.
Bagnall told Retail Week how Go Outdoors is seeking to insulate itself from the effects of the weather and the new direction the retailer has taken since being bought back from administration.
Weatherproofing the business
Bagnall has been with JD Group for nearly 11 years, originally starting out at Blacks Outdoor before moving over to Go Outdoors when the group bought it six years ago.
In 2020, the business fell into administration as, then JD boss Peter Cowgill said, “a consequence of Covid-19, Go Outdoors was no longer viable as previously structured”.
The sportswear retailer bought back the company for £56.5m the following week in a pre-pack administration deal, adding that Go Outdoors could be salvaged “if fundamentally restructured”.
Having been involved in the outdoor goods trade for so long, Bagnall says the primary reason why businesses in the sector fail is the impact of the weather.
“The variation in trade dependent on the weather is just so large that it’s really, really difficult to forecast based on normal like-for-like sales. If you have a great year you could be plus-30, and a poor year could be minus-30. There’s not many retailers that can cope with that type of swing, normally.”
Since 2020, weatherproofing Go Outdoors has been one of the main challenges he has taken on.
Bagnall says: “One of the things we’ve tried to do is introduce new categories that are less weather-dependent – so categories like running and athleisure, and brands like Sweaty Betty in-store, which are doing extremely well. By doing these things, we’re becoming a location to go to not just when you’re cold or wet, but actually when you want to exercise or when you just want to enjoy the outdoors.”
He adds: “We’ve already got the largest range of water jackets, insulated jackets and the largest range of footwear there is in the UK. There’s only so much you can add in that category. So we’ve added new categories and new things to appeal to a wider demographic and to appeal to the people who already shop with us to buy more from us.”
A new direction
Located next door to one of the largest Next stores and a Marks & Spencer, the new 125,000 sq ft Go Outdoors branch at Vanguard Shopping Park in York is an example of how the retailer is changing.
Bagnall explains: “York is an example of driving the market into a new direction. In this particular store, we’ve got bikes, fishing, equestrian and camping. We’ve got a brand new run section that has brands like New Balance, Nike and Asics. We’ve got a free gait analysis. We’ve got riding simulators. There’s just so much in the store.”
Go Outdoors has 70 large stores and 23 smaller high street shops in the UK and plans to open four more branches before Christmas.
The ultimate goal for the retailer is to cover all points of the outdoor compass.
Bagnall says: “There is nobody else in the UK that has that width of range in any of the categories we operate in. So our vision is to be the nation’s favourite. Favourite means so many different things to different people and that’s really about trying to create an emotional attachment with our customers in order to be the place to go if somebody wants to buy a warm jacket to walk a dog, or if they’re thinking about taking an expedition to Everest.”
No comments yet