SnS was founded in 1999 by Erik Fagerlind and Peter Jansson. They were sneaker collectors who saw a gap in the Swedish retail market for limited edition sneakers. In the late ’90s, there was no alternative to the big retail chains dominating Stockholm, and after a trip to New York City that yielded both inspiration and the acquisition of some exclusive products that Sweden had yet to see, SnS was born.
The sneaker collection that grew into a global omnichannel retailer
Ceder Capital invested in Sneakersnstuff AB (”SnS”) in 2015 when the company had sales of SEK 100 million and an operating profit of SEK 7 million. During Ceder Capital’s ownership the turnover quadrupled and the operating profit grew by an annual growth rate of 70% per year. SnS embarked on a global expansion combining both on and offline sales.
Background
In 1999, SnS opened its first store in Stockholm and the website sneakersnstuff.com was launched already the same year. After four years of running their Stockholm-based store, Erik and Peter were given their first sneaker collaboration in 2003 with Adidas. Since then, SnS has completed numerous successful collaborations with the largest footwear brands in the world.
In 2014, Ceder Capital was contacted by the owners of SnS regarding the opportunity to jointly develop the company into the leading global omnichannel retailer of unique sneakers.
The omnichannel model included opening new stores in Paris, Berlin, New York, and Los Angeles, where flagship stores supported the online growth and provided local order fulfillment. SnS established a leadership on social media through relevant content and a unique assortment, resulting in 1.1 million followers on Instagram.
Implemented initiatives and changes
- Internationalisation – by establishing new flagship stores in key markets, online sales increased substantially in these countries
- New products – the increased relevance with consumers enabled SnS to increase its allocation of limited edition products as well as increase the number of collaborations with main brands, which increased the awareness for SnS within the global sneaker community
- Institutionalisation – key management members were hired and the Company made significant investments to support the growth phase. For example, in 2015, SnS shifted to a stronger ERP system to support the omnichannel model with 6 warehouses in 5 countries – and the entire inventory being available globally on Sneakersnstuff.com
Exit
During 2017, Ceder Capital retained ABG Sundal Collier to evaluate a sales process. Given that SnS displayed strong trading an exit process was initiated during the latter part of 2017. Ceder Capital worked closely with management in building a financial plan and an equity story focused on a global roll-out strategy, where new stores support online sales. The Company attracted significant buyer interest and there were more than 20 pre-meetings held with various interested parties. The eventual buyer was FSN Capital through their latest fund, FSN Capital V. The management team remained invested as minority shareholders.
