A KEDGE Alumnus launches My Sport Market, a marketplace for sports!

During his time at KEDGE Business School, Thibault Barthez, Cesemed graduate, class of 2013, had several opportunities to study abroad: in Sweden at Umea, in Italy in Turin, and in London. The latter experience laid the foundation for his entrepreneurial project. He did an internship in the English capital as sales/marketing assistant for an e-commerce start-up. "After another experience with the Fédération Française de Motocyclisme, I decided to specialise in an area I particularly enjoyed: sports." He then did a specialised Masters in Management of Sports Organisations, then had two more experiences in the sports industry. The first as Head of Partnerships for the Montpellier Marathon and the second as Industry Head for the group Lactalis and Apurna, a sports nutrition brand. "These two experiences enabled me to interact daily with professionals in the sports industry (shops, brands, sites), but mainly to exchange with them, learn about their difficulties, and test my idea in the field." 

So, in April 2016, Thibault decided to end his contract at Lactalis to fully embark on an entrepreneurial adventure.

Two things really pushed him to go for it:

The first was hearing the difficulties certain professionals in the sports industry faced daily. Today, in order to be competitive, professionals have to offer a wide range of products. Therefore, they have to deal with trends and collections that change quickly. They are then stuck with more and more unsold stock, which causes financial constraints. They don't have time to deal with these products and since they don't have an appropriate tool, it is a daily struggle. 

The second was realising that the consumers were unhappy about the high cost of quality equipment. For example, it is hard to find good running shoes for less than 100€. Additionally, with the rise in specialised marketplaces, internet users prefer to group their purchases on a single website that offers a wide range of products, rather than dispersing their purchases. 

My Sport Market is a marketplace, which centralises good deals for sporting goods in order to make it easier to purchase high quality sporting goods. No need to wait for sales or to sift through different websites to find a good deal, go directly to My Sport Market. The platform is centered around four commandments: 

• Getting quality equipment without breaking the bank: sales all year long
• Quality above all: sale of products exclusively from professionals 
• A large choice of products: find thousands of name-brand products for various types of sports
• For all: whether you are a diligent athlete, passionate, or only do sports on Sundays, or you are looking for products for your children, My Sport Market is for you. 

The concept has been a success: the site has already been elected "Jury Favorite" by the Jury from the Digital School at the Campus in Montpellier

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