The U.S. Olympic Committee this year generated more than $115 million in retail sales around the London Games, exceeding its goal of $100 million and setting a record for an international Olympics.
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The black Nike hoodie brought in the most revenue. Team pins and Oakley sunglasses were also popular.
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The sales came less than two years after the USOC created new logo designs and cut a number of new licensing deals, including one with mass-market licensee Outerstuff. Its new logos and licensing agreements allowed it to increase its retail distribution from three stores — Macy’s, Niketown and Ralph Lauren — during the 2010 Vancouver Games to more than eight major outlets — Bloomingdale’s, Old Navy, Gap, Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, Niketown and Ralph Lauren — during the 2012 London Games. It could not be determined what the USOC had in retail sales from Vancouver.
Its expanded retail footprint was a major reason its sales jumped to the level they did, said Peter Zeytoonjian, USOC managing director of consumer products.
“We didn’t have the brand architecture that would allow us to sell different products in different channels at retail in the past,” Zeytoonjian said. “It gave fans the ability to support the team whether they shopped at Wal-Mart or at Bloomingdale’s.
We really didn’t have that much distribution for Vancouver.”
The USOC generated $27 million in licensing and royalty income during the 2005 to 2008 quadrennium. It is expected to generate $30 million for the 2009 to 2012 quadrennium. Consumer product licensing, which is a portion of that, will increase by 12 percent, the organization said.
In addition to its success at retail, the USOC saw increases in online sales at TeamUSAShop.com. The organization doubled its e-commerce business from Vancouver and more than quadrupled it from Beijing, Zeytoonjian said.
The top-selling product for the USOC in terms of volume was a U.S. Olympic Team pin, which was sold for the first time by the organization. The top-selling item in terms of revenue was a black Nike hoodie. The top five selling items at TeamUSAShop were all Nike products.
The USOC also generated its strongest sales ever at its retail site at an international Olympics. Its store in the front of the USA House hospitality center in London more than doubled the total merchandise sales of its store at the 2008 Beijing Games.
The USOC already is working on its merchandising program for the 2014 Sochi Games. It recently finalized designs with Nike and Ralph Lauren and expects to have product at retail before the 2013 holiday shopping season. They will preview their merchandise plan at partnership marketing meetings in Chicago next month.
