Nike, Puma, and Adidas form the holy trifecta of sporting goods in India, or at least they did until Decathlon came along. The French Sportswear brand has seen far greater revenue in 2018 than these sporting giants and has also gone on to become India’s second largest single retail brand. The number one spot is helped by Xiaomi at the moment. What sets Decathalon apart from all these other brands is that they not only offer a very wide range of products but also offer such a huge range of prices that they can cater to customers of all walks of life. Conversely, when a customer thinks of buying Nike shoes, even though a certain quality is guaranteed, it is the huge price point that generally acts as a deterrent. Decathlon is able to combat this issue, and also offers high-quality products for all prices.
However, there are other internal factors also that have led to Decathalon having such a huge revenue. Brands like Nike may sell a pair of shoes for ₹ 4,000, but they only make ₹ 2,000 as that is the price that they sell their shoes to their retailers for. Decathlon, on the other hand, manages its own retail network, due to which a sale of ₹ 4,000 also means a total revenue of ₹ 4,000. This is why they have been making more money than these giants.
Decathlon Beats Nike, Puma, and Adidas in Sales in India (source: medium.com)
The average Decathlon store is also way bigger than a Nike or Puma store. These stores sell over 5,000 products across 80 different sports, and many consumers find themselves wanting to spend extra time in their stores, just to wander around, experiment, and have fun. As a result, even the people who do not intend to buy specific items always get tempted to buy something because they had so much fun trying it out in the store.
Decathlon has a very consumer-centric approach, with non-intrusive staff that is trained to take into account the needs of the customer at all times. Furthermore, their staff is generally educated in sports so when consumers have specific questions about the performance of certain items, the staff is able to answer the questions knowledgeably. This, along with their strong focus on quality and offering value for money makes Decathlon a brand that is rivaling sports Giants in India quite easily!
