NBA And VBMR Launch NBAStore.com.au and NBAStore.co.nz
NBA AND VBMR LAUNCH NBASTORE.COM.AU AND
NBASTORE.CO.NZ
FIRST OFFICIAL NBA ONLINE STORES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
– Sites Operated by VBM Retail Offer Fans Largest Online Collection of NBA Merchandise in Australia and New Zealand –
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, October 2014 – The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Velocity Brand Management Retail (VBMR) today announced the launch of NBAStore.com.au and NBAStore.co.nz, the first official NBA online stores in Australia and New Zealand respectively. The online destinations will give local fans quick and easy access to official NBA-branded merchandise.
VBMR is a business that focuses on the retail sector for official sporting federations with a staff of experts in online retailing, venue merchandising and manufacturing and specializes in selling official licensed product.
Through this partnership, NBA Stores online destinations in Australia and New Zealand will feature comprehensive assortments of NBA merchandise, including the latest performance and lifestyle apparel by adidas – the official outfitter of the NBA. Additionally, NBAStore.com.au and NBAStore.co.nz offer a variety of NBA merchandise including, bags, collectibles, headwear, and Spalding basketballs, the official game ball of the NBA. The sites will continue to introduce new features, such as the opportunity to personalize official league jerseys for all 30 teams.
NBAStore.com.au and NBAStore.co.nz have been optimized to offer enhanced product views to show specific design details and navigation features, allowing fans to search for items by team or product category across a range of mobile, tablet and personal computing devices. VBMR, through its partnership with Australia’s and New Zealand’s sports retailer Rebel Sport will also help deliver new and exciting retail programs for NBA fans.
“VBMR is thrilled with the opportunity of representing NBA’s online retail programs in Australia and New Zealand,” said David Tucker, CEO of VBMR. “The NBA is one of the world’s leading sporting organizations and the opportunity to partner with them represents another step in the strong growth of VBMR in recent times.”
“We have seen a growing number of NBA players from Australia and New Zealand, and fans in both countries are excited to show their support for these players and their teams,” said Geraldine Pamphile, Vice President of Global Media Distribution and Global Merchandising Group, NBA Asia. “Australia is one of the largest international markets in the world for NBA merchandise sales, subscriptions to NBA League Pass and volume of traffic to NBA.com, so it is a natural step for us to partner with an established company like VBMR to offer our fan base even more access to the NBA.”
NBAStore.com.au and NBAStore.co.nz mark the NBA's sixth and seventh official international online stores, with the league generating more than 30 percent of its merchandise sales outside the United States. NBAStore.in launched in May 2014 for India, NBATienda.com became the official online store in Mexico in 2013 and LojaNBA.com became the official online store for Brazil in 2012. NBAStore.eu is the official online store for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, while NBA.tmall.com currently serves the fans in China.
For all things NBA, visit www.nba.com and follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NBAAustralia and www.facebook.com/NBANewZealand) and Twitter (@NBA_AU and @NBANewZealand) for all the latest news and updates.
About the NBA
The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2013-14 season featured a record 92 international players from 39 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which recorded 26.9 billion page views during the 2013-14 season, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America. The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 675 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $237 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 895 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.
About VBM Retail (VBMR)
Velocity Brand Management Retail (VBMR) is a specialized division of Velocity Brand Management (VBM) comprising experts in online retailing, venue merchandising and manufacturing. VBM moved into the retail sector after realising a need to deliver and satisfy VBM’s clients’ official retail channels. As a result, VBM established VBMR, a specialised division comprising experts in online, venue and four-wall retail merchandising. VBM has exceptional relationships with the companies that hold sports licenses in Australia, New Zealand and internationally, which made it a natural process to extend these relationships across retail supply.
Visit www.nbastore.com.au / www.nbastore.co.nz