M+ Store, the chain of stores sponsored by the distributor Megasport since 2013, has reached thirteen stores in operation. In 2023 it added four new points of sale. Today, it is the most successful retail brand specializing in mountain sports in Spain.
M+ Store continues to consolidate its position in the Spanish retail scene specialized in mountain sports. The brand sponsored by Megasport, the renowned distributor managed by David Vinyeta, currently has a total of thirteen stores in operation. The last four were added last 2023.
The new stores were opened in Oviedo, Puigcerdà, Jaca and Benasque. Of these four new M+ Stores, two of them were opened in partnership with retailers. These were the stores located in Oviedo and Puigcerdà. The other two stores were opened by the retailer itself. 2023 was the year in which the expansion in the number of M+ Stores was most intense.
"In a complex scenario such as the current situation of Spanish retail specialized in mountain sports, the brands we distribute want to be present in all the important places and, where we do not find options to do so, we set up our own stores or reach agreements with retailers to join our brand, M+ Store," explains Vinyeta.
PARALLEL STRATEGY
The executive emphasizes that "opening stores is not a priority objective for Megasport but, without a doubt, we must work to satisfy the quota of presence and consumer acquisition required by the brands we distribute, and we are developing this M+ Store retail strategy in parallel with that of having a presence in the stores with which we usually operate".
Vinyeta assures that "we continue to have customers in many places, both in the city and in tourist locations. We even work with more stores in most locations than we did before we were directly represented, because now we can help them more in many aspects".
The head of Megasport says that "our strategy is not unique. Other brands are also developing it, and some of them have been doing so for years. It is the way we suppliers have to adapt to the scenario, as well as to the requirements of the brands we represent".
STRATEGIC LOCATIONS
At present, as mentioned above, M+ Store has a total of 13 stores in Spain. Of these, ten operate under the M+ label and the name of the town where they are located (Vielha, Ruda, Jaca, León, Oviedo, Barruera, Boi-Taüll, The Style Outlets and Benasque), and the remaining three operate under the original name of the retailer with which Monitor Tecno collaborates (Plaza Andalucía and Plaza Pradollano, both in Sierra Nevada) and Pertot Puigcerdà.
The aforementioned distribution of personnel reveals the strategic nature of the deployment policy followed by Megasport.
On the other hand, the current thirteen stores make M+ Store the omnichannel operator with the largest number of employees, as it has more stores than, for example, Barrabés (7) or Camp Base (4).
Despite this, with 13 stores, M+ Store is present in up to five autonomous communities: Andalusia, Aragon, Asturias, Castilla-Leon and Catalonia. No other Spanish retail operator specializing in mountain and snow sports has such geographic coverage.
FLEXIBLE MODEL
David Vinyeta specifies that of the total of thirteen employees, seven are in partnership with retailers and the remaining six are Mega Sport's own.
The executive underlines the "flexible" nature of the model they have been running since they opened the first M+ Store in the Ruda shopping mall in Baqueira Beret in 2013.
The distributor currently has a portfolio of 17 brands, including such well-known brands as Black Diamond, Dynastar, Häglofs, Inov8, Lange, Lowa, Peak Performance, Protest, Rossignol, Spyder and Uyn, among others.
The head of the distributor is satisfied with the sales performance of the M+ Store network in 2023 and comments that "each of these stores has an assortment based on the brands we distribute, but not all of them have the same list of brands because we try to adapt each store to the peculiarities of the demand in each locality".
M+ Store also has an ecommerce site, so that consumers can choose the format in which they prefer to make their purchases.