Forzani’s is lacing up to chase the competition in cyberspace.

The Calgary-based sporting goods retailer has signed a deal with Web page designers Blast Radius of Vancouver to develop an Internet sales site to be launched this spring.

“It’s a total business solution for us,” says Graham Duffy, president of e-commerce for Forzani Group Ltd. “We need to offer a multi-channel solution to our consumers out there . . . to go online and research products they can buy.” Duffy adds the company’s Web page content will also set it apart from other sporting good retailers.

The www.sportchek.ca site will feature many, but not all, Forzani products from its 141 corporate stores and 163 franchise outlets — which include Sport Chek, Sports Experts, RnR and Forzani’s. Customers will be able to shop online and have their purchases shipped to their homes, or to the store.

They will also be able to return goods directly to the store.

Other sports stores, including Sport Mart, already have an online presence. An earlier $8-million proposal to link up Forzani’s with U.S. electronic retailer MVP.com bottomed out last month, and Duffy says the deal with Vancouver-based Blast Radius — which includes blue chip client Nike in its portfolio — is a good fit for the company.

“We’ve seen large dollars spent on this (web retailing) in the past, with very small returns,” notes Duffy. “There’s no one that really has a proven method out there to return huge dollars, so we wanted to understand that before we suddenly jumped in.”

Forzani Group Ltd. is Canada’s largest sporting goods retailer with about 12 per cent of the Canadian sporting goods market. Last week, the company announced its 15th record quarter of growth, boasting strong third-quarter results with revenue gains topping 25 per cent.

“It’s clear that the sporting-goods industry is now rapidly following the path seen in other sectors such as electronics, building and office supplies,” Forzani Group Ltd. CEO John Forzani said in a statement.

“Retailers with dominant, large surface locations and strong buying power and promotional programs act as natural industry consolidators and are experiencing growth that exceeds industry averages.”