T

he growing healthy lifestyle trend has encouraged sports and leisure retailer PT MAP Aktif Adiperkasa (MAP Aktif) to expand its presence both in Indonesia and abroad this year.

The publicly listed company is trying to cash in on the growing global trend among people of all ages with plans to open stores in Indonesia and in Vietnam.

MAP Aktif finance director Miquel Rodrigo Staal said on Wednesday the company planned to expand its floor space in Indonesia by 10 percent to 15 percent this year.

“We plan to add another 20,000 to 25,000 square meters of outlet area this year, or equal to about 150 to 200 new stores,” he said during a public expose event in Jakarta.

The company’s spokesperson, Ratih D Gianda, said MAP Aktif would not limit its new stores to mono-brand stores but also have multi-brand stores like Planet Sports and Sports Stations, as well as outlets inside Ramayana department stores.

She added that this diverse store expansion, or what the company called a multitiered retail formula, was necessary for the company to cover all segments of the market.

The mono-brand stores and Planet Sports would be targeted to cater to consumers from the upper-middle class, while Sports Station stores and Ramayana outlets would cater to middle-lower class shoppers, she explained.

MAP Aktif president director Michael David Capper said the strategy was not only crucial to maintain a good financial performance but also to maintain the retailer’s dominance in the sports market, which currently has a 63.40 percent market share.

Besides expanding in Indonesia, the company is also planning to expand abroad to Vietnam this year by opening five to six offline stores in the country, following last year’s digital expansion with PlanetSports.Asia.

Capper said he believed in the company’s decision to expand to Vietnam as it would present a good opportunity for the firm.

“Vietnam’s sports retail market penetration is the lowest among Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore,” he said, adding that Vietnam’s population of 95.54 million people could also become an opportunity for the company.

He added that MAP Aktif would apply the same multitier strategy in Vietnam but would need more time to achieve the same kind of dominance it had in Indonesia.

To finance the firm’s entire expansion plan this year, MAP Aktif allocated Rp 300 billion (US$20.73 million) for its capital expenditure (capex).

The capex would be sourced entirely from the company’s internal fund because it had yet to distribute any dividends this year, given that MAP had only been listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) for less than a year.

Staal also said MAP Aktif was looking to develop its online stores so that its online sales contribution would increase from 2 percent last year to 5 percent in 2020, both from its own e-commerce sites of PlanetSports.Asia and online toy store KidzStation.Asia, as well as through multiple e-commerce sites in the country.

Although revenue from online sales remains low when compared to that from offline sales, Ratih said the company believed it was necessary to invest in digital platforms.

“We believe that digital platforms will be the future of shopping, so we need to start investing in it from now,” she said.

MAP Aktif currently operates several multi-brand stores that sell sporting goods, leisure footwear and children toys. It also distributes over 40 exclusive sports, leisure and kids brands like Adidas, Skechers, Lego and Clarks through those stores and the brands’ standalone stores in malls all over the country.

As of the first quarter of this year, MAP Aktif’s revenue was up 14.72 year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 1.52 trillion, which helped boost profit to Rp 141.22 billion from Rp 96.6 billion during the same period.

Though the company did not reveal its growth target for this year, Staal said he hoped its performance would improve with the Ramadan and Idul Fitri holiday period, which usually contributed up to 12 percent of its total annual revenue.