Decathlon, the world's leading multi-specialist sports brand, reveals its new purpose, “Move People Through the Wonders of Sport”, and the strategy behind this bold new ambition to bring innovative and sustainable sport to everyone.
Source: DECATHLON press release
Since the beginning of its journey in 1976, Decathlon has always believed in the vital role of sport in helping societies be healthier and happier. And today people need sport more than ever.
At the beginning of this transformation journey, Decathlon wrote its “North Star”, a long-term ambition to accelerate its mission for the good of societies and the planet. Led by North Star, a new purpose was born: Move People Through the Wonders of Sport.
Anchored in this objective, Decathlon is adopting an ambitious global strategy, which includes an improved customer experience, a strong commitment to sustainability and an overall modernization of the company. The centerpiece of the customer experience is an evolved brand, presented today.
Today marks a very special moment in the history and future of Decathlon. Now more than ever the world needs sport. It has a unifying power and can improve both physical and mental health. At Decathlon we want to have a bigger positive impact on people, society and the planet, Moving People Through the Wonders of Sport. I am proud to work towards the North Star, our guiding light and our ambition, together with our collaborators. It was incredible to see the various teams come together to celebrate what makes us special: allowing everyone to play sport at their own pace. I am confident that our ambitious strategy, which evolves our business model, will ensure Decathlon leads the industry as a unique and reliable sports brand – Barbara Martin-Coppola, Decathlon's Global Chief Executive Officer
A NEW BRAND IDENTITY AND PORTFOLIO
Decathlon's new brand identity reflects the brand's ambition to celebrate its past at the same time. Together with a dynamic blue, it now welcomes a new brand icon – “the Orbit” – which expresses movement, the ambition to reach new heights and circularity, at the heart of Decathlon's sustainable business model.
Decathlon exploits the full potential of the brand to bring sport to everyone through a new and simplified brand portfolio with 9 category specialists: Quechua (mountain), Tribord (water and wind), Rockrider (outdoor cycling), Domyos (fitness), Kuikma (racket), Kipsta (team sports), Caperlan (wildlife), Btwin (urban gliding and mobility) and Inesis (target), and 4 expert brands: Van Rysel, Simond, Kiprun and Solognac.
A BUSINESS MODEL BASED ON SUSTAINABILITY
All the good that sport can bring to people's lives and societies cannot be at the expense of the planet.
Decathlon wants to be a driving force and has committed to becoming Net Zero by 2050.
DECATHLON's decarbonisation objectives are (scope 1, 2 & 3):
● 20% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions in 2026.
● 42% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions in 2030 and net zero emissions by 2050.
Strongly committed to achieving its ambition, Decathlon has, for the second consecutive year in 2023, separated its growth from its CO2 emissions.
Decathlon works closely with suppliers and partners to enable sustainability throughout the supply chain. With this collaborative approach, Decathlon works with suppliers to decarbonize processes and pave the way for new business models based on circularity and increasing the life cycle of products.
This also means that across its range of items, Decathlon is increasing the lifespan of items and enabling customers to reuse, repair and recycle their products.
A NEW CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DRIVEN BY THE DIGITAL FIRST MINDSET
Decathlon is harnessing the power of digital with a global e-commerce site revamp to offer customers a seamless shopping experience, anytime, anywhere.
Decathlon's digital supply chain has been reimagined with the best AI tools and algorithms to enable accurate forecasting, assortment planning and stock metrics.
This has already led to significant reductions in stock levels and numerous improvements, including reductions in transportation costs, carbon footprint and lead times.
Decathlon is also pioneering new ways to engage its customers in an immersive experience, including its 3D shopping app on Apple Vision Pro in the US.
Starting in the next few months, more than 1.700 stores worldwide will be renovated with a completely new layout, offering customers intuitive navigation, greater product visibility, eye-catching physical and digital displays and an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere.
INNOVATION AT THE HEART OF THE MULTI SPECIALIST SPORTS BRAND
Every day, over 850 engineers and 400 designers at Decathlon incessantly invent, create, design and test new materials and products. The result is a series of revolutionary sports solutions, backed by 900 patents.
The Decathlon organization is inspired by this culture and includes teams of experts such as Booster Innovation – supporting local teams, Sports Lab – dedicated to the study of sports and the dynamics of the human body, AddLab – a 3D prototyping and Advanced Design center – who plans the sports and experiences of the future.
LOOK TO THE FUTURE
Decathlon aims to become one of the most inclusive organizations in the world.
In 2023, Decathlon's executive team achieved parity for the first time in its history and the company has made unprecedented commitments for 2026, including measuring representation, inclusion and belonging, action and setting global standards and best-in-class performance in DE&I.
Decathlon is building and strengthening communities such as women in leadership and associated programs by creating external partnerships with DE&I experts. In 2023, Decathlon received numerous industry awards, including a 10th place finish in Forbes' Retail & Wholesale category as the world's “Best employer for women”.
