Dive Brief:
- Dick’s Sporting Goods has set its sights on e-commerce growth by investing in its digital platforms, according to executives on a Q1 2025 earnings call Wednesday.
- E-commerce is already very profitable for Dick’s, and the company will grow it further by “investing aggressively” in the omnichannel customer experience, according to President and CEO Lauren Hobart.
- One investment target is the GameChanger app, which customers can use to coordinate, stream and get scores from youth sports games. The app serves as an entry point into the Dick’s ecosystem, and some of Dick’s most valuable shoppers are GameChanger users, Hobart said.
Dive Insight:
Dick’s Sporting Goods executives are pleased with the results of the retailer’s in-store experience initiatives, which have contributed to five consecutive quarters of over 4% comparable sales growth. However, stores only account for part of the overall experience, and the company is setting its sights on digital.
Comparable sales rose 4.5% year over year in the first quarter of 2025, according to a company earnings report. Net sales for the quarter rose 5.2% year over year to nearly $3.2 billion.
E-commerce is already a strong point for Dick’s, and digital sales outpaced net sales in the first quarter of 2025, according to Hobart. However, she sees room to gain greater market share with omnichannel customers, and storytelling experiences will be an essential part of that push.
“We continue to feel very confident that our brands appreciate that they can bring their whole brand to life in our store from head to toe, including gear and equipment,” Hobart said. “We can tell a whole brand story, and we are rooted in sport, and that gives us an advantage versus our competitors, both online and omnichannel.”
GameChanger, while not directly connected to e-commerce, has a role to play as well in the digital experience.
The platform had over 6.5 million unique active users during the first quarter and averaged about 2.2 million daily active users — a nearly 28% year-over-year increase, according to Hobart. In addition to the crossover potential, GameChanger provides the retailer with a database of potential and current customers’ preferences for engaging with sports.
While executives put an emphasis on digital during Wednesday’s earnings call, Dick’s is still investing in its brick-and-mortar experience.
The company had 21 experiential House of Sport locations at the end of the first quarter. It is aiming to have 35 by the end of the year and 75 to 100 in the near future, according to CFO Navdeep Gupta.
The company’s Field House store concept, which borrows some aspects of House of Sport and fits them into smaller spaces, is the future for all of Dick’s core locations, according to Gupta. Any future stores that the company relocates or opens under that core format will open as Field House locations, he added.
