JD Sports has revealed its revamped store at Westfield Stratford now has the highest turnover and footfall across its global portfolio as it called the UK market “the blueprint of omnichannel innovation and store design for the group worldwide”.
While many retailers face a challenging trading environment and are closing stores, JD Sports is bucking this trend and placing a bold bet on expanding – and improving – its physical footprint. In fact, when CEO Régis Schultz laid down his five-year growth plan last year, he set a target of opening a whopping 250 to 350 stores a year.
Creating world-beating flagship stores also appear to be part of its plan – and the revamped 50,000 sq ft store in Westfield Stratford City is certainly that.
Mike Armstrong, who was promoted to the retailer’s first ever global managing director last year, says the Stratford store is the “pinnacle expression of JD and really gives you a good indicator of what the JDs of the future will look and feel like as it continues with the store expansion”.
Armstrong
Twice expanded, firstly in 2021 when it took on the adjacent Topshop unit and earlier this year when it did the same with the Disney store, the JD Sports flagship has been revamped to its ‘Just Landed’ format, and is described by Armstrong as “a really immersive digital experience”.
The store certainly “brings the energy” as he puts it, with a constant stream of the latest big brand marketing campaigns playing on loop across 205m² of LED panelling, and a raft of shop in shops installations from its big name partners including Nike, Adidas, and New Balance.
It even has an elevated DJ booth, where the retailer brings in DJs to spin some tunes and provide the soundtrack to the shopping experience.
Armstrong says: “At the heart of it there’s 216 individual screens, so there’s a lot of investment in digital and but it really blends seamlessly into the environment that we’ve created.”
JD Sports global director store development and property transformation James Fuller adds: “The screens can adapt instantaneously to the latest campaigns, the latest trends and help support that customer navigation through the store.”
Not only is the store impressive for customers, it is equally impressive operationally. The Stratford site features 29,000 sq ft of retail space but 50,000 sq ft in total, with its warehouse-style stock room taking up the remainder.
The vast stock room has the capacity to hold 30,000 boxes shoes, and is used to serve both the store and online orders.
From the stock room, products can arrive on the shop floor in 30 seconds via a conveyor belt that moves shoes down a giant helter-skelter to the waiting store assistant.
The customer who asks for a pair of trainers will see where their shoes are via a digital ordering screen – think a more engaging version of the Argos ordering system.
Payment is also made quick and seamless, with shoppers given the option to use self-checkout points, a huge bank of tills, or can even pay on the spot with store assistants as each staff member is armed with a handheld device that not only does inventory checks but transactions too.
Rolling out the concept
JD Sports’ faith in stores is unsurprising given that 72% of its sales came from bricks-and-mortar last year. However, the JD exec team say its stores also create a halo effect online, driving digital sales too.
The results of the Stratford store – which has catapulted to the retailer’s highest turnover store globally – has given it confidence as it pushes ahead with its roll out.
The Just Landed concept will be expanded to other big flagships including Sheffield Meadowhall, Lakeside, Bluewater, Glasgow Buchanan Street and JD’s new Manchester’s Trafford Centre, which will usurp Westfield Stratford to become its biggest global flagship when it opens next year.
However, the concept is not just confined to flagship stores. The retailer has four iterations of the format to cover all types of stores, and has currently revamped 70 JD Sports stores globally, with close to 200 expected to be done by the year end.
Armstrong says: “We designed the Stratford store to set the benchmark for how a JD will look and feel in the future – combining what we’ve always done best and to bring the energy, with all the trimmings of a leading retailer.”
Fuller adds that all revamps will keep the “street, urban environment” with both a frictionless experience and digital at the heart of it.
Elements such as self-service are also expected to be rolled out. It is currently being trialled in three flagship stores, but Fuller says it will soon experiment in smaller shops. He says JD is “very, very pleased with the results so far”.
JD Status
The retailer’s new loyalty programme JD Status also forms a crucial part of its omnichannel bleuprint. Launched last year in the UK, the loyalty app has already had 1.6 million downloads.
With Status, customers earn ‘JD cash’ on purchases that can be redeemed for discounts. It also offers sign-up bonuses and regular promotions.
Armstrong says customers who use the app spend 41% more on average and 20% of all UK revenue has come through the JD Status in the past 90 days.
The MD has big plans for the loyalty programme.
Armstrong says: “It’s firstly about understanding shopping habits and then we can tailor communication and offers towards each and every individual consumer in a much more specific way.”
The app recognises each customer when they enter store enabling JD to serve them with tailored offers and promotions.
“It really gives us a unique opportunity to communicate directly with consumers in a way we never could before, which is really exciting for us. We see it as a first step towards a really complete JD ecosystem, which hopefully can cover all the facets of a young person’s lifestyle,” adds Armstrong.
With the programme showing stellar results already, the group is set to roll out JD Status across Europe, having recently launched it in France and Poland.
A ripe opportunity
The new store concept and loyalty app have landed at a pivotal time for JD Sports. Despite achieving a whopping £917.2m in pre-tax profit in its last financial year, this was down 7.5% and behind expectations.
This followed a golden quarter that JD flagged was hit by discounting across the sportswear market in response to “cautious consumer behaviour”.
Since then mega brand Nike has slashed its 2025 forecast after reporting weaker-than-expected fourth quarter sales. The news led to its shares plunging 20%, making it the biggest one-day percentage drop in its stock’s history.
JD’s own shares are down by a fifth this year.
However, Armstrong shrugs off any concerns. “If you look at the long-term outlook there isn’t necessarily anything to be concerned about,” he says.
Now JD finds itself in the full thrust of the ‘Summer of Sports’, with the Euros in which England made the finals, swiftly followed by the Paris Olympics.
But does this mean bumper trading for JD Sports?
While Armstrong explains that the major sporting events don’t “have a material impact” on sales, he believes it could have a longer term benefit.
“What is great for us is these big sporting events create a halo effect and they create an energy and appetite for sport generally across the markets. Also, we get three or four months of brand exposure and to showcase the best product on the best athletes in the world. That’s what’s really big for us.”
With many shiny new stores and a fast-growing loyalty app, JD is well-positioned to capitalise on consumers’ current obsession with sports.
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