Industry Retail Website www.decathlon.com Headquarters Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France Founded 1976, Englos, France | Number of employees 65,000 Customer service 076767 98989 Founder Michel Leclercq Revenue 10 billion EUR (2015) | |
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Key people Michel Aballea, CEO, Matthieu Leclercq, Chairman, Michel Leclercq, founder and 40% owner Products Clothing
Sportswear
Sports equipment CEO Michel Aballea (Jan 2015–) Subsidiaries Decathlon UK, Decathlon Sports India Profiles | ||
Decathlon ([dekatlɔ̃]) is one of the world's largest sporting goods retailers.
Contents
Decathlon started with a store in Lille, France in 1976, founded by Michel Leclercq. It started to expand abroad a decade later, to Germany in 1986, Spain in 1992, Italy in 1998, Portugal, the United Kingdom in 1999, China in 2003, India in 2009 and Southeast Asia in 2012. Today, there are more than 850 stores in 22 countries. The company employs more than 60,000 staff from 80 different nationalities.
The retailer stocks a wide range of sporting goods, from tennis rackets to advanced scuba diving equipment, usually in large superstores which are sized at an average of 4,000m². Decathlon Group also owns 20 brands, with research and development facilities all over France to develop the latest innovative designs, registering up to 40 patents per year. Each brand represents a different sport or group of sports, with a dedicated product development and design team.
Locations
1000+ stores are located globally, in the following countries:
Online delivery has been introduced in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, India, Italy, Singapore, Spain, Brazil, Portugal, Romania, Ireland, Mexico and recently, Vietnam.
In India, Decathlon products can be bought directly through their stores subsequent to change in India's FDI policy and approval for Decathlon in February 2013. In addition to this, Decathlon products are also available online through their online resellers.
In late 2016, an online only delivery service has been introduced in Tunisia as preparations to open the first store in Tunis have already started. The first store is set to open sometime in 2017.
In february 2017, to open the first store in Bogota, Colombia in the mall Parque La Colina.
Product ranges
The retailer develops and sells its own brands. Each sport or group of sports has a separate brand name:
Economic review
Its success has greatly contributed to the decline of independent retailers in France, while the spread of its own brands has caused great difficulties for traditional manufacturers. 2008 was a record year for the company as the brand Decathlon had beaten all its competitors on three key points: margin, market share, and highest turnover per square meter of retail space. It is arguably the third at a global level. A 2008 survey of 774 catchment areas at the request of the Ministry of Economy and Finance shows that "for sporting goods, Decathlon is dominant in 92.8% of zones". This dominant position has the effect of marginalizing its commercial competitors, including independent retailers.
Competition
In 2009, Decathlon's sector rivals, Go Sport and Sport 2000, joined forces to set up a common purchasing centre in Switzerland, intended to "pressurize most of the major international suppliers", according to François Neukirsh, Managing Director of Go Sport, in the newspaper Les Échos. Otherwise, the company does not have significant competition due to their specific target audience in mass-market retail.