Sports goods manufacturing company iCOREts Private Limited which runs the brand playR, has been signed by four Indian Premier League teams as their merchandise partner for the season. The teams include Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab Kings, and Rajasthan Royals.
This partnership includes merchandise like apparel, accessories, and other lifestyle products. The company claims it has sold about 35,000 jerseys and 15,000 fan merchandise in the last month since the IPL season began. In addition to this, it said it also sells cricket equipment of these IPL franchises.
Ravi Kukreja, the company’s co-founder said, “This collaboration will help us reach out to a wider audience and create more opportunities for fans to engage with the team and the sport. IPL has revolutionised an almost non-existent sports merchandise market in India, and our goal is to provide fans with the best sports merchandise and equipment.”
The company was founded in 2021 and claims to retail in 250 stores as well as online. The company said its gross sales were valued at around ₹16 crore in 2022-23 and is expecting to reach a value ₹40 crore this fiscal.
While there are no consolidated figures available for the category, it is estimated by IMARC Group that the global licensed sports merchandise market reached a value of $29.9 billion in 2021. It expects the market to rise to $39.8 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.9% during 2022-27.
However, industry experts have told Mint that sports merchandising businesses have not had a successful run in India as many fans just prefer to buy unofficial, cheaper merchandising available locally around stadiums. There is also not enough cricket played around the year for many fans to justify buying sports merchandise.
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