Many retailers are diversifying beyond pure retail these days and choosing different ways to do it (think John Lewis’s move into homes to rent). Frasers Group is also diversifying but all its moves retain a strong retail link.
Sports Direct
Its latest move, announced Wednesday, is the acquisition of a “minority investment” in UK “leisure, retail, and hospitality experts” We Do Play.
This “strategic investment” is the group’s debut in the leisure market, “diversifying its consumer offering through synergies with its existing ecosystem, including Sports Direct and its growing real estate portfolio”.
So what is We Do Play? It’s a UK-headquartered specialist operator of “experience-led brands” including trampoline park operator Flip Out, interactive and live gaming venues Activate, mini-golf entertainment concept Putt Putt Social, and leisure and entertainment venue Rumble Rooms. “Building on the success of openings in London and Newcastle, Frasers plans to launch more than 40 Activate locations nationwide in the coming years,” we’re told.
The company said the expansion “further elevates the group’s status as a leading retail destination — bringing diverse, high-energy experiences to communities across the UK”.
And its chief acquisition officer James France added: “Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone in our strategy to diversify and create more dynamic consumer and leisure experiences. We Do Play’s innovative brands align perfectly with our vision for a modern, experience-led consumer ecosystem.”
We Do Play CEO Rich Beese also said that “with Frasers’ backing, we’re now able to scale [our] vision faster and further. This partnership gives us the platform to innovate, expand our footprint, and elevate leisure across the UK and beyond”.
With Frasers expanding the number of brands it owns and also buying up control of (or stakes in) the retail parks and shopping centres where they can be found, it’s clearly committed to creating an entire ecosystem in which everything it owns can benefit other parts of its empire in some way.
Retail property owners across the country are keen to attract leisure operators to their spaces both because of their general success at present and because they help draw more consumers into retail centres where they’ll be more likely to shop for products. Frasers is taking this a step further and actively buying those operators along with the retail spaces.
