With a variety of Net companies disintegrating, the clicks-and-mortar
strategy is definitely becoming more attractive. In fact, there is a recent
book on the subject called — you guessed it – “Clicks and Mortar.” The
co-author is David Pottruck, who is the co-CEO of Schwab, a company that has
been able to take full-advantage of clicks-and-mortar.
Another company trying to bridge a clicks-and-mortar strategy is
Collegiate Pacific .
Basically, the company is a traditional mail-order marketer of sports
equipment. Although the customers are not end-consumers, but
institutional customers, such as schools, YMCAs and even country clubs. In
all, Collegiate Pacific has more than 2,500 products.
In just a few years, the company has made tremendous progress. Originally,
the company was a reverse merger, but has recently met the requirements to
be listed on the American Stock Exchange.
Financially, the company is sound. The balance sheet is without debt.
There is also an innovative financing component. The company recently
issued warrants, which may ultimately result in an infusion of $41 million
in cash. Adam Blumenfeld, President of Collegiate Pacific Stated, “If the
warrants were to be exercised or converted, the resulting $41 million cash
infusion would position the Company with one of the strongest balance sheets
in the industry – primed to take advantage of acquisitions target in this
fragmented space.”
Moreover, sales have grown from $0 to $10.1 million in less than 30 months,
with the company anticipating 50%+ sales increases and stable- to-expanding
margins in the coming years.
Collegiate Pacific has more than 22,000 accounts. And the company has been
adding about 1,000 accounts every month. For example, one of these accounts
is within the B2G space (business-to-government): General Service
Administration, which supplies sports equipment to military locations
(purchases exceed $600 million per year).
But, of course, there is a huge B2B opportunity for Collegiate Pacific. The
marketplace for institutional sporting goods is about $20 billion.
The big issue confronting the company is whether it should build its own
technology or outsource it. So far, the company has done the latter. The
company entered a major agreement with
Fogdog.com , a leading
online sports site that is backed by Nike. Collegiate Pacific will be the
exclusive provider to Fogdog’s School and Recreation Express Ship store for
the next 6 months, and a prominent supplier thereafter.
Actually, it appears that Collegiate Pacific will become a critical back-end
fulfiller for the online sporting market. The company has a 2-Day “Rapid
Response” delivery program, which no other company has in its industry (most
competitors take 4-6 weeks). According to Mr. Blumenfeld, “The company is
exploring a variety of relationships to take advantage of our unmatched
delivery systems, broad product line, and the proprietary nature of many of
our products. Simply put, we can manufacture and deliver certain items to
the school markets more reliably than anyone in the business. That’s what
300+ cumulative years in management expertise offers. We think these skills
will continue to attract a variety of B2B exchanges and others looking to
target institutions domestically, and abroad.”
