French sports good retailer Decathlon has identified India as a priority market, where it has an annual revenue of Rs 4,000 crore, growing at over 35% per annum. The double-digit growth prompted Decathlon to announce an investment of nearly Rs 1,000 crore in India in August, which will be done over the next five years. Sankar Chatterjee, CEO, Decathlon India, tells Viveat Susan Pinto the firm’s priorities for the future. Excerpts:
What will be your retail expansion strategy with the parent’s investment in India?
We have 130 stores across 50 cities in the country. We want to take this number to 190 stores across 90 cities by 2027. This will be a mix of large and smaller stores. While we continue to believe and invest in large stores, but smaller formats are needed too to enhance reach. Our flagship stores are over 3,000 sq metres in size in major cities. However, we have been expanding our ‘Decathlon Connect’ concept too across cities. These are smaller stores between 200 and 500 sq metres in terms of size. A third small-format store is around 100-120 sq metres in size, where the number of products available are limited. People can quickly drop into these stores and buy what they want quickly.
Local manufacturing is something that Decathlon is pursuing aggressively. What will this entail?
Currently, 68% of the goods sold in India are locally produced. Besides, 8% of Decathlon’s global product range are also met through India manufacturing. We are aiming to take domestic manufacturing to 85% by 2026. We currently work with multiple partner factories across India. This network is set to grow further.
Any plans to set up your own factories here for production?
We are exploring the possibility of establishing new production units, particularly in sectors like plastic, composite, metal products, and bicycles, which are relatively new segments for the company in India. Having said that, the hero of our business evolution in India has been our products. We have never compromised on the quality of our products in India. We have also maintained a long-standing relationship with our partner factories, which has worked for us all these years.
How are you tapping quick commerce to deliver sports goods?
Online sales account for about 15-20% of our revenue. We are investing in our digital assets such as our app,
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