Fanatics (sports retailer)
 | |
| Private | |
| Founded | Jacksonville, Florida, 1995 |
| Founder | Alan Trager |
| Headquarters | Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Michael Rubin, Chairman Doug Mack, CEO |
| Products | Licensed Sports Apparel & Collectibles |
| Owner | Michael Rubin |
Number of employees | 1800 |
| Parent | Kynetic |
| Website | Fanaticsinc.com Fanatics.com |
Fanatics is an online retailer of licensed sports apparel and merchandise, formed in 1995 and headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. Fanatics offers product via its Fanatics and FansEdge brands, as well as sports collectibles and memorabilia through Fanatics Authentic and SportsMemorabilia.com. Fanatics, Inc. also currently powers the e-commerce sites of all major professional sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, PGA, UFC), major media brands (NBC Sports, CBS Sports, FOX Sports) and over 150 collegiate and professional team properties.
Fanatics has relationships with over 1080 vendors, including companies such as Nike, Reebok, adidas, '47 Brand, Majestic, New Era, Mitchell & Ness, Under Armour, Rock 'Em Apparel and over 1000 others. Fanatics, Inc. also owns Fanatics Apparel, which produces licensed sports apparel exclusively for the Fanatics umbrella of sites. Additional offices are located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Deerfield, Illinois; Conshohocken, Pennsylvania; Boulder, Colorado, San Francisco, California,[1] and soon San Mateo, CA.[2]
History
Formed in 1995, Fanatics, Inc. was originally started when brothers Alan and Mitch Trager opened Fanatics, a brick-and-mortar storefront in a Jacksonville mall focusing on Jacksonville Jaguars apparel.
Fanatics grew primarily through acquisitions. The first acquisition (2006) was Richard Perel's Marketsville, Inc sports web sites which included top college e-commerce property CollegeFootballStore.com. At the time Marketsville, Inc accounted for close to 25% of Fanatics online sales as an affiliate. Richard Perel stayed on board as a marketing executive at Fanatics until 2014, helping the company secure funding at a $3.1 billion valuation in 2013.
Subsequent acquisitions were Rupp Shirts based out of Tallahassee, Florida and Demand Made.
In 2011, Fanatics, Inc. was purchased by GSI Commerce, led by chairman Michael G. Rubin, for $171 million in cash and $106 Million of GSI Common stock.[3]
In 2012, Rubin purchased Fanatics outright from eBay, along with a 70% stake in Rue La La and ShopRunner, and formed the umbrella company Kynetic as a parent company.[4] Later that year, Fanatics acquired Florida-based rival Dreams, Inc. for $158 million in cash and $25 million in debt.
Michael Rubin is now worth $2.7 Billion and owns 72% of Fanatics,[5] after the last round of venture capital funding. As of June 2014, Fanatics was valued at $3.1 billion.[6]
As of April 2014, Doug Mack is the CEO of Fanatics, Inc., which currently has about 1,800 employees.[7]
Fanatics is ranked #42 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 in 2014.[8] In 2015, the NBA announced a multi-year partnership with Fanatics to operate its 25,000 sq ft flagship store in NYC.[9] Since Fanatics also powers the online NBAStore.com, customers to the NYC Store are able to browse and purchase from the entire online inventory through in-store handheld devices. In March 2016, the NFL and Fanatics agreed to a new long-term extension to operate NFLShop.com.[10] The NFLPA also granted Fanatics the rights for player merchandise. Fanatics will replace Nike as the largest maker and seller of player merchandise starting in March 2017.[11] In January 2015, Fanatics began selling a collection of casual womenswear designed by actress Ricki Noel Lander called Let Loose By RNL.[12][13]
Fanatics ranks "A" with the Better Business Bureau, where the company has been an accredited business since 3/1/2006.[14] Fanatics ranks 1.7 out of 10 on Trustpilot.[15] Fanatics also ranks 1.6 stars out of almost 500 reviews on Sitejabber.[16] According to many of the reviews on these sites and others, Fanatics seems to actually care very little about their customers and only provide one of a few generic replies from "Karmen" that is clearly just copied as a reply to each review with only the names changed for each individual.[17]
Notes
- ↑ "Fanatics Inc. Fact Sheet".
- ↑ "Why the world's largest licensed sports merchandise retailer is moving hundreds of jobs to San Mateo". Silicon Valley Business Journal. May 4, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
- ↑ "Jacksonville-based Football Fanatics scores with $277 million sale".
- ↑ "Newly-Minted Billionaire Is Spinning eBay Scraps Into Gold".
- ↑ "Profile: Michael Rubin".
- ↑ "Score! Web Sports Retailer Fanatics Inc.Tops $3 Billion Valuation".
- ↑ "Sports Apparel Purveyor Fanatics Swipes One Kings Lane Chief".
- ↑ "Sports apparel e-retailer Fanatics hires a Williams-Sonoma exec".
- ↑ "Conshohocken Company to Run NBA Flagship Store in NYC". More Than The Curve. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ↑ "Fanatics Signs Long-Term Extension Of NFL Deal, Expanding Rights". Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ↑ "E-commerce giant Fanatics scores a new deal with the NFL". B2B E-Commerce World. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
- ↑ Fanatics website: "LET LOOSE BY RNL IS A CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S FANWEAR LINE DESIGNED BY AMERICAN ACTRESS, MODEL AND DESIGNER RICKI NOEL LANDER" retrieved August 8, 2016
- ↑ Daily Mail: "Meet Ricki Lander, 73-year-old Patriots owner Bob Kraft's bombshell girlfriend of three years - a dancer turned actress who is half his age" By ANNABEL FENWICK ELLIOTT 31 January 2015
- ↑ http://www.bbb.org/north-east-florida/business-reviews/sporting-goods-retail/fanatics-retail-group-in-jacksonville-fl-29000877/
- ↑ https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.fanatics.com. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.fanatics.com. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.fanatics.com. Missing or empty
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