Photo: Photos By Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

The San Francisco Giants are hoping for a hit amid a tough retail climate by handing off all store operations to sports merchandising company Fanatics Inc.

In a 10-year partnership deal, Fanatics will now run all 10 Giants stores — nine in the Bay Area, including the one at Oracle Park, and one at the team’s spring training ballpark in Scottsdale, Ariz. Previously the Giants ran the stores.

For fans, this has practical implications. They can now return Giants gear purchased online to stores, because Fanatics already runs the Giants’ e-commerce site. People will also soon be able to buy merchandise online and pick it up in stores, an option Fanatics plans to roll out this summer or fall.

The deal with the Giants marks the first time Fanatics will manage a team’s entire brick-and-mortar fleet. The company, which is based in Florida but has more than 200 employees in its San Mateo office, runs stadium stores for about 50 teams across sports leagues, including the Giants, Oakland Athletics, San Francisco 49ers and San Jose Earthquakes. But many teams, including the Giants, also have stores outside the stadium.

“The stores can be a good revenue source for us, but the last couple of years, it’s been difficult,” said Mario Alioto, executive vice president of business operations for the Giants. “We’re dealing with leases, labor costs and consumers’ changing buying habits.”

Terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but Alioto said the Giants will receive royalties from store sales. The Giants will remain the leaseholders for all retail locations, including stores in Walnut Creek and San Jose, though lease renewals will prompt a re-evaluation of the site, Alioto said. All other aspects of running the stores, including hiring employees and keeping Giants gear in stock, will be handled by Fanatics.

“For the Giants, where retail is not (their) core business and is almost an afterthought, this makes perfect sense,” said Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, a market research firm.

Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Fanatics already has data on Giants fans who buy online, and that may help its in-store sales.

“They know who buys what, what sizes sell most when, and what kinds of customizations happen when a team is wining,” said Helen Bulwik, a retail consultant in Oakland. “They will also know more about efficiently handling inventory when things are not so great. Retail today is all about data.”

Fanatics makes clothes as well as sells them. It owns clothing manufacturer Majestic, which it bought two years ago for $225 million from VF Corp, an apparel and footwear company. Fanatics recorded $2.3 billion in revenue in 2018, with majority of it coming from online sales.

“We play by a different set of retail rules,” said Cole Gahagan, chief commercial officer at Fanatics. “Sports has a guaranteed customer base that comes to the venue a certain number of times a year. In addition, we’re selling products that have sentimental value.”

Sports gear is not insulated from the general malaise affecting the retail industry, but stores can lure everyone from tourists to longtime fans for nostalgic or impulse buys, Bulwik said. And smart salesmanship helps.

“The Giants are a baseball team, not a retailer,” she said. “It’s great they’re letting the experts run this show.”

Shwanika Narayan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @shwanika