Decathlon sets ambitious goals for India: Here's what it's aiming for

India is a "big priority" market for Decathlon, and the French sports retailer expects the country to be among its top five global markets within the next five years, helped by expansion of store network and increased local sourcing, according to a top company official.

Decathlon, as part of its growth plans, will add 10 new stores every year in India, while accelerating online sales and also increasing local sourcing to over 90 per cent in the next five years from the current average of 60 per cent, its Chief Retail & Countries Officer Steve Dykes said.

This move would help Decathlon become more competitive in the fast-growing Indian sports and athleisure segment and increase exports to global markets from its Indian manufacturing facility, he said.

India "is a top priority for us. We have five countries, which we call as leapfrog jump countries and one of them is India," Dykes said, while speaking at a Decathlon global event here.

For Decathlon, India is already among the top ten (markets globally in revenue terms). "We wanted to get it into the top five," Dykes said, adding that this would happen within the next five years.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2023, Decathlon India's sales were at Rs 3,995 crore, registering a 37 per cent growth.

"We want a good rhythm of (opening) 10 stores per year. We are really accelerating online at the moment and positioning ourselves digitally because of the convenience element," he said, adding besides large format stores, Decathlon is also working on small stores in big cities.

These new stores could be smaller stores between 1,000 to 2,000 square meters or could also be large experience stores spread across 4,000 square meters, with a bigger play area and other amenities.

"We have two in Bengaluru at the moment but we feel that in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, we should follow that kind of concept," he added.

The leading sports retailer also believes it has a role to play by encouraging more people towards sports and creating a market in India.

Decathlon, which competes with leading athleisure brands such as Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma and Asics in the Indian market, is currently operating around 100 stores across formats.

Regarding the potential of the Indian market, Dykes said India has a high number of young people in its demography, who are looking at sports as a career option. Moreover, there are some big Indian cities such as Mumbai, whose GDP is expected to be broadly equal to countries like Romania. "We would like to treat these cities like a country," he said.