Athletic footwear manufacturers have three distribution channels for accessing the ultimate consumers of
athletic footwear, the people who wear the shoes:
• Wholesale sales to independent footwear retailers who carry athletic footwear—department stores,
retail shoe and apparel stores, discount chains, sporting goods stores, and pro shops at golf and tennis
clubs. Worldwide, there are some 60,000 retail outlets for athletic footwear scattered across the world.
North America and Europe-Africa each have 20,000 retail outlets selling athletic footwear, while Latin
America and the Asia-Pacific each have 10,000 retail outlets for athletic footwear.
• Online sales to consumers at the company’s Web site.
• Private-label sales to large multi-outlet retailers of athletic footwear