Life Style Sports chose to close its nationwide stores last Wednesday in light of the CoronaVirus outbreak and has pivoted its attention towards the online offering.

The move has been rewarded with a 50 per cent rise in online traffic and while this will not yet come close to bridging the revenue gap the figure is rising quickly and it has removed the need for retail staff to face the potential risk of travelling to work and dealing face to face with customers during this difficult period.

The most popular purchases over the last week have been women’s leisurewear, with women’s leggings representing almost 40 per cent of total sales.

Other popular purchases include running and training apparel, yoga mats and footballs. Trainers remain a popular purchase with online shoppers having similar technology and style preferences to bricks-and-mortar shoppers.

On reviewing the trends over the first week of the COVID-19 lockdown, Life Style Sports has noted that peak shopping times have moved from the traditional time of 7-10 pm to a more sustained shopping time – indicating that ‘post work shopping’ has now become ‘all day shopping’.

Overall, the trends so far indicate that people are choosing to shop, exercise and keep fit, whilst practising social distancing and working from home.

The retailer has also modified its existing, home delivery service to allow greater flexibility and ease for customers with its ‘Safe Next-Day-Delivery Service.’ It has also implemented safety precautions for its operations teams ensuring social distancing measures are strictly adhered to.

These have included signature free delivery, new return options including collection from home and more.

Previously uncollected ‘Click and Collect’ orders from stores are also now being redirected.

“Since the store closures, the entire team has been unbelievably supportive of the business, and each other, during this difficult time – truly validating our long-established ‘Proudly Irish’ tagline,” said Mark Stafford, CEO of Life Style Sports.

“At pace, we’ve made the switch to 100 per cent online retail – whilst working in a way that prioritises our team’s health and safety.”

“Our online retail service is well established and, though it’s incredibly challenging for all of us in retail right now, it’s encouraging for us to see our online service be of value to our customers during this period of adjustment.”

“We plan to continue adapting and responding to our customers’ needs over the coming weeks with some online resources that will facilitate people’s need for health and wellbeing advice, at a time where gyms and team sports are on pause.”

We applaud the innovation and resilience that is being shown across so many sectors and pleased to see that another Sport for Business member is to the fore.