Decathlon, which has 100,000 employees and 1,700 stores in more than 70 countries, plans to divest its brand portfolio. The company has about fifty, which is too large a number to meet logistical requirements or to digitize all of its signatures.
Some names you may be familiar with will disappear from the shelves, such as Artengo (racquet sport), Wedze (skiing) or even Kalenji (running). The latter, popular in the city of Marseille, is nicknamed “Kalenjule”, thanks to the rapper Jule, who is the reluctant ambassador of the brand he wears.
Fifty to Thirteen Marks
With this new simplified brand portfolio, the company aims to accelerate its growth in e-commerce. Because Decathlon will now focus on thirteen brands. there will be “9 special categories“, including Quechua for mountains, Tribord for water and wind, Kipsta for team sports or Btwin for “urban sliding” and “4 specialist brands”, including Van Rysel (road cycling), Simond (mountaineering), Kiprun (running) and Solognac (Hunting).
The aim of these last four, which can be distributed outside Decathlon stores, is to compete with the best manufacturers, Fabian Brose, product and sports manager, said on Tuesday. The brand presented its strategic plan this Tuesday, March 11, in Paris, during a “show” with cyclists from the professional team it recently sponsored, as well as dancers and athletes, including judoka Teddy Reiner. Keeping this in mind, the brand also introduced its new logo on its social networks. This new symbol of the brand is “Orbit” which expresses the movement, as the decathlon’s ambition is to reach new heights.
Barbara Martin Coppola, a Franco-Spanish who has worked at Ikea, Google and YouTube and who will become general director of Decathlon in early 2022, explained that she wants to continue. “Making sport accessible to everyone and at all levels”through “Modernization of the Whole Economic Model”.
A new model based on sustainability
The group aims to reduce its direct and indirect carbon emissions by 20% by 2026, 42% by 2030 (reference year not specified) and “net zero by 2050”, particularly through the development of product reuse.
Decathlon was singled out by the Dutch Consumer and Markets Authority in 2022 for using the ambiguous term “ecodesign”.
“We must do our part for society and the planet”Barbara Martin Coppola said, “Not only as a sports distributor but as a sports brand, we have everything we need to accomplish this mission”.
The leader signaled the echo to want “Increase the desirability of the Decathlon brand, so people recognize it as a brand with strong values”. He also says he wants to grow “Services associated with our products: communities of practitioners, information on practice, running or cycling routes, personalized offers based on progress in practice”.
Decathlon achieved 15.4 billion euros in turnover in 2022, the last fiscal year for which results are known.
