Synagie to manage sporting goods giant's e-commerce business in S-E Asia

HOMEGROWN e-commerce startup Synagie has inked an agreement with Amer Sports Malaysia Sdn Bhd to manage its e-commerce platforms business in South-east Asia, the Catalist-listed firm announced in a press statement on Wednesday.

Amer Sports Malaysia is a subsidiary of Helsinki-listed Amer Sports Corporation (Amer Sports), a sporting goods company with international brands including Suunto, Wilson and Salomon among others. The group offers various sports equipment, apparel and accessories, and sells its products to consumers via brand stores, distributors, factory outlets, e-commerce and trade customers.

As part of the agreement, Synagie will promote the online distribution and sales of Amer Sports brand products, manage its online channels and stores, as well as provide integrated services from promotion to customer service to help grow the group's e-commerce businesses in South-east Asia, it said.

Added Synagie's co-founder and executive director, Olive Tai: "We started working with Amer Sports in November 2018 and have a successful model managing their e-commerce business in Malaysia. We look forward to replicating this successful model across different markets to help Amer Sports further expand its online distribution and sales in the region."

According to data by Allied Market Research, the Asia-Pacific sports apparel market is expected to generate a revenue of US$62.6 billion by 2020, with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 8.1 per cent from 2015 to 2020. In addition, the sale of sports apparel through online stores is also expected to register a CAGR of 14.5 per cent during the same period.

Synagie manages the online businesses for more than 280 brand partners in South-east Asia.

The company said that net sales of Amer Sports-owned sales organisation exceeded 2.6 billion euros (S$3.97 billion) last year. In 2018, an investor consortium including Tencent Holdings also made a cash tender offer for the entire issued and outstanding share capital of Amer Sports, valuing the company at some 4.6 billion euros, Synagie said.

As at 11.58am on Wednesday, Synagie shares were trading at 17.6 Singapore cents, up 5.4 per cent, or 0.9 Singapore cent. Some 14.5 million shares changed hands, making it one of the most active counters by volume in early morning trade.