Japanese Business Grows as Four More Clubs Choose to Partner with Fanatics
Fanatics, a global digital sports platform and leader in licensed sports merchandise, has announced new long-term partnerships with four more Japanese sport clubs as it continues to expand its business across one of the fastest growing markets in its Commerce division.
Kashima Antlers, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and V-Varen Nagasaki are the latest J.League teams to partner with Fanatics and they are joined by basketball team Nagasaki Velca, meaning eleven sports clubs across Japan now partner with Fanatics to help serve their fans worldwide.
The Kashima Antlers, the J.League’s most successful club having won the competition a record eight times, will partner with Fanatics from early 2024 to work across both product planning and manufacturing, as well as management of stadium and clubhouse retail stores. Fanatics will refurbish and revitalise the Kashima Antlers' stadium store and clubhouse store, providing supporters with an unprecedented customer experience, including the prompt delivery of ‘hot market’ items and commemorative merchandise, leveraging Fanatics' expertise and strength in this area.
Fanatics, which has office and manufacturing facilities in Tokyo and operates from more than 80 different locations across the world, now partners with many of the biggest clubs in Japan including the Softbank Hawks, Tokyo Giants, Kashima Antlers and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
The long-term deal with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, will see Fanatics become exclusive operator for the club’s online eCommerce store from Summer 2024, in addition to operating onsite retail at the club’s new stadium, "Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima," which is set to open in February 2024. The partnership will also see Fanatics granted the rights to manufacture official merchandise for the club, which will be able to utilise Fanatics’ technology infrastructure and in-house manufacturing capability in Japan to create and distribute a broad assortment of high-quality merchandise to fans.
Under the new partnership with V-Varen Nagasaki and Nagasaki Velca, Fanatics will take over merchandise operations from the 2025 season. This will include designing, manufacturing, and distributing V-Varen Nagasaki and Nagasaki Velca branded products, as well as managing both the official e-commerce store and physical retail shops inside and outside the stadium and arena, including the new Nagasaki Stadium City scheduled to open in the fall of 2024.
Masanori Kawana, Managing Director of East Asia for Fanatics, said: “We are extremely proud to have announced new partnerships with three more J.League clubs and our first basketball club based in Japan. “Japanese fans are incredibly passionate and as experts in licensed sports merchandising with extensive experience globally and locally here in Japan, we will make every effort to provide fans of all our new partner clubs with a wide range of relevant merchandise and first-class retail experiences for many years to come.” Over recent years Fanatics has expanded into many key international markets and has a number of comprehensive partnerships with leading sports clubs and organizations across the world including Tokyo Giants, Formula 1, MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, UEFA, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Chelsea, The FA and the AFL.