Parent company positioning:

Parent Company

Decathlon

Category

Sporting goods retail

Sector

Lifestyle and retail

Tagline/ Slogan

Sports for all! All for sports; Better gear better off

USP

Everything in sports in affordable price

Decathlon: A Short analysis

Interbrand #07 best loved brand, Decathlon is one of the very few retailers that turned profitability even
in the face of economic crisis In Spain, the case of decathlon is a one to reflect on as the one where
customer needs were understood and category killsers were devised.
The core of the company is driven at heart by the belief that everyone loves to play, they have a much
focused R&D integration where unlike most companies, it is not technology driven, and it is driven by
the comfort and aspirations of the customers. Being close to the customer through their 700+ stores,
decathlon follows an incremental strategy of innovation based on customer usage of products at its
retail stores,
Also, by creating specialized brands that directly compete with international sports brands, Decathlon
seeks to control the market from the top down, while maintaining its position as a leading French
specialized retailer. As is usually the case with all big international companies, this strategy asserts its
wish to control the whole upstream-downstream value chain to ensure better profitability.
The Decathlon Group focuses on creating category building brands, its mainstay is the constitution of a
portfolio of new brands, and not only able to launch new lines of products on the market but also able
to durably transform a whole market segment. The popular sport brands are: Quechua, Kipsta, Domyos,
Geologic, Aptonia, Inesis, Wedze, Tribord, Kalenji, bTwin, Gonaute, Fouganza, Artengo and Oxelo. Each
one of them is positioned on a precise sporting branch of industry: bTwin, for example, is specialized in
mountain bikes and road bikes; Wedze in boardsport on snow, and Kalenji in walking, running and crosscountry running. Together, these passion-brands make the Decathlon group one of the first ten
worlds manufacturers of the sector behind Quiksilver, Nike, Adidas, Timberland, Columbia, Salomon,
The North Face and Patagonia

Decathlon Distribution and Product Availabilty:

Decathlon Distribution strategy: Decathlon imports its products into India and will follow the 30% local
sourcing clause for 100% FDI in single brand retail in five years. It plans to open 60 stores in India in next

five years and achieves that by a cluster by cluster strategy, creation primary hubs like Noida, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and then spreads to nearby cities while using common sourcing channels.
The warehousing and retail units are under one house and there is no external warehousing or sourcing
what you see is what you buy approach is followed and all equipment are available for trial along with
trial area for most sports.

Retail layout:
Description:
Decathlon has an average store spread of not less than 4000 sq. ft., unlike other mall based sports shops
which have a small coverage area and almost no scope for product trials. The floor is divided into
product category based division(Btwin, quenchua, Artengo etc) with high shelves present parallel on
both sides of the floor. The entire store has wide open spaces for cycling, skating etc indoor or has
courts and trial spaces all around the main building. Since 2009 this model (coexistent in china and
working well there) has been well received due to cash and carry nature of the business, but with retail
thrust since 2013 there seems to be a discord between customer wants and the current store layout as
evident from:

Customer Insight from store evaluation:

1. Shelves are too high, obscure the item categories behind, even though there are sign boards
describing the categories. The whole store is not visible from entrance.
2. There is no frontage and there is a warehouse like dull feel with no special attractions on display, the
cash and carry store style is carried over to customer retail, only difference being an open to retail
board at the main entrance. Combine this with the perception from survey that consumers prefer a
large variety when it comes to racquet sports, when comparing this to stores of sports retailers like Nike
etc., decathlon needs to work on retail layout and visibility
3. No reflective surfaces (Mirrors/trial boards) or lighting control (both natural/artificial) again adds to
the aura of a warehouse.
4. Lack of proper seating is also a concern according to shoppers.
5. Private labels are lower priced and take a second step in quality when compared to primary brands
like Yonex, Lining etc.

Retail layout recommendations:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Enhanced lighting and product podiums, enhanced product image.

Shelves of increasing heights to increase in-store visibility
Sports stools/ sporty seating seats for mid-shopping relaxation
Enhanced frontage with market leading and best in quality products placed in position
to attract customers visiting for playing sports or casual strolling and conversion into
purchase.

5. Inclined shelves to increase end shelf visibility and make customer path defined with set
entry and exit points to increase customer stay and browsing time(may convert into
small accessory purchase even if customer is in for casual browsing)
6. Check out promotion and sales: Decathlon checkout counters are located near the gate
and do nothing else apart from billing and packing, there needs to be product
redirections, eye catching promotions and lifestyle accessory advertisements behind to
get people to shop again while they are waiting. Similarly, there needs to be accessories
like grips, bands, stickers, bags, pouches, gloves, scale-models, different category balls
etc. placed near the counters that will promote accessory sales while customers wait for
billing.
7. There needs to an ambient recollection associated with the product usage, a lighting
such as a bright sunny day with perfume pump reminiscent of ocean smells will give a
section such as surfing, canoeing etc. a connect with a past memory and induce
purchase behavior. The decals and paintings should be
Identification of factors for marketing strategy
Need of the racquet sport consumer:
A high performance replacement due to wearing out of previous racquet, should perform to quality
specifications and be from a well-recognized brand.
External Stimulus under consideration:
1. The influence is primarily of word of mouth or near field performance from a relative or a friend,
brand recommendations are accepted as is while product recommendations are tested by the primary
user for performance to specifications.
2. There is very less impact of advertisements or celebrity endorsements and the consumers are
searching for the perfect racquet to playing style match. For this a good brand identity creation along
with a usage guide associated with all racquets identifying the player persona and the playing style for
the particular racquet be defined.
3. Social class seems like a major determinant of purchase as sec A primary respondents preferred
Yonex, Lining and other brand based racquets while lower social strata may be willing to adopt a lesser
known but equally good brand.
Internal influences under consideration
Majority of the survey respondents are achievement focused and determined, while at the same time
showing a side for openness to experience. They are extroverts and seeking thrill or excitement in life.
There is also an added side of being modest and the propensity to show off is low, leading for a further
avenue for propagation of private labels when it comes to racquet sports
Perception and learning

According to the respondents there is a personal risk associated with private label products as they think
that the product specifications will not perform as per desired. The price points are lower but there is a
compromise on quality. Exposure is very low as there is very less advertising and brand promotion.
Learning for the product category racquet sports is mostly vicarious in nature with events like matches
or recommendation of products by friends and relatives and subsequent usage creates a need and
desire with a short term learning associated with the brand and a repeated contact converting the
hunger for knowledge of the product into a search for information on the category and a long term
learning associated with it.

Advertising
With sports advertising spends now reaching 4000 crores in 2014 with more than half being spent on
non-cricket categories, India seems poised to get over cricket and pay attention to new sports like
kabbadi, badminton, tennis and adventure sports and sport destinations.
Tagline Recommendation:
Sports for all! All for sports; Better gear better off can be reused to position decathlon as a promoter of
Indian sports.
1. Social Visibility:
Footwear, clothing, accessories, and apparel are a major source of revenue while surfboards, gear, and
accessories only maintain a minimal place in sales ranking for sports and adventure retailer. These
brands have a much larger social media presence than global sports brands, which outpace surf, board
and action sports brands in total sales revenue. For example. Nike Action Sports, the division of Nike
dedicated to Nike 6.0 focuses on surf, skateboard, snowboard, moto, bmx, and wakeboarding. It has .6
million facebook fans whereas Billabong is quickly approaching 1.32 million fans. Similarly, Quiksilver has
1.29 million and Rip Curl has .7 million Facebook fans.
For an adventure and sports category creator like decathlon with very low ,the way ahead for brand
visibility would be stressing on outdoor lifestyle events and promoting adventure, surf and action
sports on its social channels and its retail touch points and creating a sports specialist brand image.
The International positioning of best of sports goods for the family at convenient pricing can be
retained for a market like India, where sports are a reason for family/friends to get together.
2. Print and Television(Traditional Media) recommendations:
The international position of helping people rediscover sports can be carried into India to run campaigns
like making sports goods accessible to all.
1. Aspirational campaigns (focused on self actualization) like discovering the next Pullela
Gopichand, Sania Mirza, PT Usha in everyday situations provided given the right gear (Better
gear better off) can also be done to identify Decathlon as the provider of quality gear for
everyday play.

2. Peak experience based campaigns for associating the power of a single racquet as a life
changing event, promoted by Sania Mirza or Saina Nehwal as one gear that changed their lives.
Dhoni/Virat Kohli describe how a cricket bat can make a whole nation smile.
3. Self-actualization, based on heroism/potential in everyone, pitch every ones laziness as the
hindrance to ones true potential.

3. Owned Medium
The company has poor visibility in India and hence has to build a brand community around itself in India,
it includes an India centric owned website with customizations as per Indian sports (cricket, hockey,
cycling, badminton etc.) and also promoting passion brands by showcasing enhancements for the
Indian players. Discussion forums and contests need to be run around the brands to showcase feature
and performance highlights to professional and novice players both.

Marketing Strategy
1. Brand association with movies like Bhaag milkha bhaag, Mary Kom and other future projects
on sports personalities.
2. Build support communities around brands, visibility of Decathlon is low and the preference of
customer purchase is brand first. A community around adventure sports companies, sporting
event companies, sports clubs, college event groups and major sports promotion companies
should be built so that there is perforation of brand decathlon at most sporting events.
3. Top of the mind recall is very low for decathlon, so a brand personality needs to be created.
Since customers perceive private labels as low price lower quality value for money offerings,
decathlon has to associate with an event or upcoming celebrity that represents the highest of
quality and performance at no bargain.
4. Create category attractors boulder stops (small artificial walls in malls, popular hangout places
where people can get to know rock climbing as a sport), artificial trekking spots to promote
outside living.