Sport Achat Grenoble, France, January 29-31 2024 Preview

The big news is that Sport Achat is moving from Lyon to Grenoble, following on from last year’s successful relocation of Sportair’s summer show Next Summer to the Alpexpo exhibition centre.

Grenoble is a great location for a winter show as its right in the mountains with its mountain ambiance and allowing quick and easy access to the show by winter sports retailers. Last year more than 3320 retailers visited the 279 exhibitors presenting more than 500 brands.

For 2024 Sport-Achat has increased the number of brands and exhibitors registered at the show and now has the largest collection of winter sports brands of any show in Europe. With almost all the snowboard and ski brands you can find, but also all the goggle, helmet and gloves brands along with a large choice of outerwear, retailers will find all they need to make the best selection of brands for their shop.

Last year the show was brought forward to the end of January from its traditional date in late March. This successful move took place to ensure the show remained relevant with earlier pre-book deadlines. This is a trend amongst both trade shows and on-snow demos. With its new dates Sport Achat will still be the final opportunity in Europe to see 23/24 products as all the other on-snow demos and trade shows will have already taken place.

The earlier dates have made the show more attractive amongst both exhibitors and retailers. Mathieu Kurtz of Sportair comments: “Retailers come to the show to meet clothing, ski, snowboard and outdoor suppliers. These face-to-face meetings are the strength of the show. It’s an essential show for French media, manufacturers, distributors, agents, retailers, online retail sites, leasing specialists, buying groups, specialised chains and procurement centres and the last opportunity to place those prebook orders for 24/25 products.

On the way into the show a giant mood board will highlight the 3 main themes of the show. These are Biotech – the use of natural seeds or plants to produce new materials, the Meta Realm – for the use of new technologies on products such as augmented reality and Repurpose Heritage – a focus on both recycled products and material along with durable goods.

The Fresh Zone near the entrance is dedicated to start-ups and will feature companies that are less than 5 years old, giving the opportunity for these new players to present their products cheaply and get themselves known. Close by, Sportair with Mission Retail Design, will present a futuristic concept where visitors can see different kinds of shop furniture and layouts.

The conference and seminar program are busier than last years as Sportair have decided to make them more of a focus at the show, topics and schedule is as follows:

Monday

1)Presentations by the Fresh Zone exhibitors of New products and services that are less than 5 years old

2)How to use new concept and proficiency as key factors for specialization and competitivity
presented by Franck Piccard Olympic medalist at both Calgary and Albertville.

3)Ski market figures and its future prospects

Tuesday

1)How to attract new customers with a sustainability based offer

2)A talk on the repair trend and how brands and new repair companies provide this service

3)The presentation of the French Outdoor Award by the Outdoor Sport Valley Association.

Wednesday

1)Textile certification and the sales pitch to customers

2)How to attract and keep new employees

Buying groups such as Sport 2000, Skiset, Skimium, Netski, Intersport, Ski Republic, Precision Ski will organise meetings, talks and product presentations to their members during Sport-Achat.

Sport-Achat will organise an opening party on the Monday, to bring together retailers and exhibitors at the end of the first day of the fair. The following evening, brands will have the opportunity to invite visitors to their booths for an end of the day drink.

Airports in the region include Grenoble, Geneva and Lyon Saint-Exupéry. Grenoble is also well connected by motorway and TGV from both Paris and Marseilles.

So, jump on a plane or get in the car and come and see next year’s products. Get involved and feel that collective winter spirit at Europe’s last major winter show of the season.