Fanatics And F1 Announce Partnership Extension After 2020 Growth

Formula 1 and licensed sports merchandise company Fanatics have announced a new multi-year extension to their e-commerce and manufacturing deal.

The pair say the extension follows ‘outstanding’ performance in 2020, and will see Fanatics retain global e-commerce and manufacturing rights for the racing series.

The deal was announced following a year in which sales on the official online F1 Store grew by more than 40% globally, with official merchandise sent to fans in 143 different countries.

Since then, the pair say the ‘strong performance’ has accelerated in the first six months of 2021, with sales on the official online F1 store growing by ‘triple digits’ compared to the first six months of 2020. Meanwhile, the US has become the ‘most significant’ market for the F1 site. 

According to Fanatics, a ‘key driver’ of sales  in 2020 was the F1 store’s move to Fanatics’ Cloud Commerce technology, which provides rapid navigation for fans across online and mobile sites. 

“We are pleased to extend our ecommerce and licensing partnership with Fanatics on the back of an exceptional 2020 performance, which follows the remarkable growth we have seen over the last few years,” said Ben Pincus, Director, Commercial Partnerships, Formula 1. 

“Our ambition is to serve all our fans no matter where in the world they are located, and our focus in the years to come will be to access new markets and grow strategic territories like China.”

Zohar Ravid, General Manager for Fanatics’ International Business, said: “We have worked in partnership with Formula 1 for a number of years now and grown its global merchandise business significantly in that time. The recent transfer of the site onto our innovative cloud commerce platform has delivered some incredible results in recent months; we are committed to building on that growth in the coming years and I am delighted that we will now be able to continue to deliver results and an incredible service to its global fanbase.”.

Fanatics, which counts the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, the NFL, and the NBA as partners, has worked with F1 since 2017 and says sales have grown 200% in that time.