The world’s largest sporting goods retailer, Decathlon – which has found a growing audience in India in recent years – has further expanded its presence in the National Capital Region with its biggest store, spanning across a sprawling 3,000 sq.ft. in Noida.
The fitness trailblazer, which has redefined the way people buy sportswear through it’s highly involving and experience-centred stores, has already been operating around 12 outlets in NCR and 70 outlets across India.
At its newly launched store in a mall in Noida, the brand banks upon digital services such as self-checkout counter, scan and pay app for billing to improve the buying experience.
“With Decathlon Scan & Go, customers can simply scan and pay for items using their smartphone, automatically disabling the RFID security tag to leave them free to exit the store without any need to queue or wait at the checkout,” explains Sylvain Deschamps, City Sports Leader, Decathlon Noida. Eliminating the need for queuing has been one of the key competitive advantages driving the success of online retail over the last decade.
Retail-cum-Experience Centre
With its new retail cum experience centre, Decathlon aims to boost the buying experience, through its dedicated activity and community zones for fitness and sports enthusiasts.
“The reason why people have loved the Decathlon experience is the high level of engagement and the involvement we provide to consumers before they actually buy our products. We have dedicated activity zones that engage the community around the stores to participate in daily games and fitness routines such as playing basketball, badminton, etc. It has been seen that offering such community zones helps people become more active and fitness conscious,” says Deschamps.
The store has dedicated sections for women, men, children and teenagers. Its dedicated space for fitness aficionados adds another dimension to this outlet, while the community space provides customers an opportunity to practice their favourite fitness activities – be it augmented reality golf, simulator zone or skating rink. It is nothing less than a sportsman’s paradise offering 50 sports and more than 5,000 sports products under one roof.
Store Design
In an era where the retailers are testing the powers of e-commerce, Decathalon still places its faith in brick-and-mortar stores. Explaining the reason for opening huge stores, Deschamps says, “We want our consumers to test the products before buying them. The real-time experience redefines the need of the product for specific purposes.”
In the new store, product is the king. Each and every element at the store – design, lighting, floors – highlight the visibility of the products.
What is New?
DIGITAL SCREENS – The digital screens highlight the sporty story of the employees of Decathlon. The brand hires only sportsperson as its employees.
AUGMENTED REALITY GOLF – The brand has brought the fun of playing golf inside its store by introducing augmented reality golf. It gives the same pleasure of playing golf as in the golf course.
ACTIVITY AREAS – The store has dedicated areas for various sports activities like Basketball, Cricket and even an elevated bridge to check the grip of trekking shoes.
COMMUNITY AREA – The consumers can get engaged in various discussions related to sports along with participating in activities like Zumba, Hula Hoop, Football Freestyle and Rep wars to name a few.
PRODUCT STORY – Highlights the technicality of the products, its usage and durability along with the price.
