So, what is Fanatics?

Fanatics, Inc. is an American online retailer and manufacturer of licensed sportswear, sports collectibles, trading cards, NFTs, and sports merchandise. Fanatics is involved in iGaming and sports betting as well. The company started as an American online retailer, and it has a license in merchandise and sportswear.

Fanatics is worldwide popular for operating its e-commerce business of media brands and professional sports leagues, and there are hundreds of professional and collegiate team properties. Let’s find out who owns Fanatics, what it does, and other information as well.

Company Overview

Here is the basic information about Fanatics.

Company Profile

Company History

In 1998, the current CEO of the company Michael G. Rubin created a logistics and apparel company, and it was incorporated with Global Sports. The e-commerce company was a billion dollar business, and then it turned into GSI Commerce. At the same time, there was another company named Football Fanatics which was acquired by Micheal G. Rubin in 2011.

Football Fanatics had popularity across professional and college teams, after merging, the new name changed to GSI. Rubin sold GSI to eBay in the same year for $2.4 billion. And then, he bought the sports e-commerce business. With the new acquisition of the business, Rubin got online stores all over the North American sports leagues. And there were hundreds of colleges and teams associated with the new company with the unchanged name Fanatics, Inc.

Post Merger

After merging the companies, Fanatics got funds of $150 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Insight Venture Partners. Fanatics then made a decision to acquire its rival company Florida based Dreams, Inc., for $158 million. And this decision changed everything, later, it acquired Mounted Memories and Fans Edge. Later, these brands became the Fanatics Authenticate division.

2014 And New CEO

Rubin’s vision was clear, he wanted to meet the expectations of global sports partners and fans. In 2014, Doug Mack became the CEO of the company and launched a new office to control the Silicon valley tech talent pool.

Mack was the person who brought the e-commerce business into a direct-to-consumer and mobile-first brand. The main priority was simple, and that was to focus on manufacturing, technology, and data. And Fanatics was successful in beginning its innovative vertical commerce model.

2015 And Became Global

First, Fanatics raised for the second time, and Silver Lake Partners funded $300 million in 2015. Then it acquired Kitbag, which was a UK-based internet retailer, and this created a boom in the market as Fanatics started to focus on global soccer and international expansion.

2017 And A New Milestone

Fanatics again acquired another company named Majestic Athletic which used to be an MLB uniform provider, merchandise manufacturer, and sportswear. Before this, the company was owned by VF Corporation. At that time, Nike was the MLB’s official uniform partner, and later this acquisition led to Nike MLB uniforms.

In the same year, Softbank gave Fanatics $1 billion and made a partnership with MLB, NFL, MLS, NHL, and NFLPA. The company made $2.2 billion in that year. Then Fanatics acquired Fermata Partners. Fanatics also announced its partnership with National Football League, Nike, and Major League Baseball.

The valuation of the company reached $6.2 billion in 2020. Then it bought Vetta Brands and became the leading headwear producer. Next, it acquired WinCraft, which made the company’s presence in non-apparel merchandise.

2021 and Global Digital Sports Platform

In 2021, the company’s valuation became $18 billion. Before that, there was another funding of $325 million and $320 million. Because of the funding, the company entered into NFTs, gaming, gambling, trading cards, media, and more. The company invested its 60% stake in Candy Digital. Fanatics are involved in other fields like culture, entertainment, and lifestyle.

Fanatics: Customer Reviews

A brand could do its best and yet not be as popular as it should be among fans. Businesses that have not taken the opinions and wishes of customers seriously have never seen the light of success for long.

While going through the customer reviews, I was fairly disappointed with what I had to witness. A brand that speaks so highly of itself has such poor reviews. While every brand has a blend of mixed reviews, what Fanatics had was rather disheartening.

With only 8% five-star reviews, the brand has a flooding 84% stars.

Here are some of the things that customers have to say about Fanatics.

“If I could give a minus score I would. Terrible experience from start to finish. Ordered my boy’s birthday present on the 1st of august, kept getting promised it would be there by the 17th august but nothing arrived. I had to keep contacting them regarding the order. Finally lost my patience on the 22nd September and asked for a refund. Promise the world will deliver nothing.”

– Andy, GB.

Delivery is something that most customers are very frantic about. You make them fake promises, and they will surely explode.

“First jersey I ordered got lost in the mail. It was a 3xl browns jersey joe Thomas number 73. I get that it getting lost in mail might not be Fanatics’ fault. They resend me the jersey and it comes with an xl gardener jersey. Not even close to the same team number or color. Absolutely ridiculous, then they offer to resend it again and give you a coupon for less than what the site offers to everyone on a daily basis as an “I’m sorry.” what a joke.”

– Tommy Missig, US.

Yet another delivery issue. The customers will tolerate only as much as they can.

“I had $50 in gift cards. when i tried to use them they had a zero balance. fanatics basically told me too bad they were used already. So someone either hacked into their system or they have a thief working there stealing gift card numbers and pins. they could easily see my order history and I am sure they can see the fraud order was not shipped to me. they are willing to lose a customer over $50 then i no longer can trust them. Goodbye Fanatics.”

– Tim Gingrich, US.

Customers getting frauded is very common in the US. But the brands being reluctant to take any steps is simply not acceptable. If Fanatics want to improve what the world thinks about them, there are various sections where they would have to fix their services.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):-

Here are interesting questions and answers that most people ask about Fanatics.

Final Words

Fanatics got involved with NBA in 2015, then in 2016, it had an agreement with NFL, and in the same year, Fanatics got a license from NASCAR. In 2017, Adidas and NHL made a partnership, and Fanatics joined to make jerseys. MLB announced Nike and Fanatic’s deal in 2015. The company has partnerships with Formula 1 and MLS also. And there is no doubt if you want to get the best jersey of your favorite team, Fanatics is the place that you should go.

I hope you will find this article interesting. If so, then please share and give your feedback.

Thank You.

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