CRC Sports Co., Ltd. is recognized for making customer experience sportier than ever during the challenging year being able to thrive in the challenging retail environment and strengthen its position as the No. 1 sporting goods retailer in Thailand. In recognition of its successful efforts to adapt and improve its operations, the company has received the Sporting Goods Retailer of the Year – Thailand Award at this year’s Retail Asia Awards 2022.
CRC Sports under Central Retail receives Sporting Goods Retailer of the Year – Thailand Award at the Retail Asia Awards 2022
Company is recognized for making customer experience sportier than ever
during the challenging year 2022
As the COVID-19 pandemic entered its third year in 2022, with continued lockdowns, social distancing restrictions, and consumers reluctant to leave home, CRC Sports Co.,Ltd. under Central Retail was able to thrive in the challenging retail environment and strengthen its position as the No. 1 sporting goods retailer in Thailand. In recognition of its successful efforts to adapt and improve its operations, the company has received the Sporting Goods Retailer of the Year – Thailand Award at this year’s Retail Asia Awards 2022.
The Retail Asia Awards 2022 recognize the most outstanding retail innovations and dynamic businesses across Southeast Asia in several categories. The Retail Asia Awards 2022 panel of judges lauded CRC Sports for its strong customer focus, partnerships with top sporting brands, and multi-brand, multi-format omnichannel retail model that clearly connected with consumers throughout the pandemic, driving sales growth during a difficult time for most businesses.
Tony Morton, President of CRC Sports Co., Ltd, said, “it is very honored to receive the Sporting Goods Retailer of the Year – Thailand Award for 2022. It reflects our commitment to growing our business by delivering the best and most responsive customer experience, based on offering a wide selection of products from great brands and integrating technology into our customers’ shopping journey to reach the new generation of buyers.”
A key factor in CRC Sports under Central Retail winning the award is the company’s mission to become Thailand’s leading multi-format, multi-category, omni-channel retailing platform. The company aims to increase customer LTV (lifetime value) and drive sales as it improves the customer experience by transforming into a true omnichannel business. Initially implemented to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, the company’s omnichannel strategy includes enhancing the in-store customer experience through assisted selling tools; improving in-store conversion and UPT (units per transaction) using automated cross-selling and alternatives; and generating new e-commerce orders by making it easy for customers to purchase items online.
According to Tony Morton: “Moving the company ahead over the past few years meant we had to be highly flexible and adapt to a constantly evolving situation, especially customers changing their purchasing habits as they adapted their lifestyles to living under the pandemic situation. Our omni-channel strategy gave us this flexibility. In addition to our 248 stores across the country, we have several other channels to shop including Click & Collect, Personal Shoppers, Call & Shop, Line Chat & Shop, and Facebook Live events. It’s all about being accessible to consumers, giving them options to buy from us when and how they want.”
Entrants in the Retail Asia Awards categories for stores and retailers are judged using several factors such as achievements, which are the major milestones a company has reached recently; how the company successfully implemented solutions to meet challenges, and what unique and innovative initiatives the company introduced to substantially boost its business. A panel of notable experts from across the Asia-Pacific region serve as judges, evaluating the entries to determine the winners in each category.
The judging panel for the Retail Asia Awards 2022 also saw tremendous strategic advantage in CRC Sports’ partnerships with leading global brands. “The company is a distributor for Crocs, New Balance, K-Swiss, Skechers, Wilson, LFC, Fila, Merrell, Umbro, Speedo and Ellesse. Most recently, CRC Sports has been appointed as the new operating partner in Thailand for Reebok’s retail stores and e-commerce operations as well as wholesale distribution in the region. This is in addition to the strong regional partnership with Adidas that the company also has in place.
CRC Sports under Central Retail plans to expand the Reebok network to more than 100 locations this year, renovating five concept stores. It will also expand Reebok’s online presence on web sites such as supersports.co.th and reebok.co.th, as well as online marketplaces such as Lazada, Shopee, and Central, with the end goal of having 20% of total sales come from its online channels.
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