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Fanatics Inc., the Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered online manufacturer and retailer of licensed sportswear, sports collectibles, trading cards, NFTs, and sports merchandise, has acquired EPI, an Italian merchandise company that manages the official physical and online stores of top Italian football clubs.
Fanatics and EPI announced the acquisition deal on Wednesday, April 5. With the acquisition agreement, the former will take over and become the official operator of online stores of Italy’s national soccer team and seven other teams in the Serie A football league. Moreover, the deal has become Fanatics’ very first foray into the Italian market.
The Italian football club merchandiser is also an official licensee for customizable products of top soccer clubs and manages the entire sales process, starting from purchase planning up to the delivery of goods to the customers. Thus, from now on, Fanatics will do all of these works as it buys EPI.
The American sports retailer will step in and start running the in-stadium stores for AC Milan, Bologna, Inter Milan, and Fiorentina soccer teams. Prior to the acquisition, Fanatics is already an official seller of licensed merchandise for the U.S. National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been growing steadily in Europe and Britain as well since acquiring Kitbag British sports retailer, in 2016.
“I am thrilled to welcome Lorenzo Forte (EPI’s CEO) and the EPI team to Fanatics - we share an entrepreneurial mindset, a passion for delighting sports fans and a love for innovating for sports teams and leagues, which makes for an exciting future together,” Fanatics’ vice chairman and commerce chief, Doug Mack, said in a press release.
He went on to say, “By combining EPI’s local expertise and relationships in Italy with Fanatic’s leading-edge capabilities and global reach – we are excited to accelerate business for EPI’s current partners while further advancing our unrivaled offering for new global partners ahead.”
