Decathlon to invite brands and retailers to sell via its website

Decathlon will shortly announce a new tilt to its online offering, inviting brands, distributors and retailers across its covered outdoor segments the chance to sell their goods directly via its online portal.

CI.N was given an advanced insight into the process, which will place a partners’ products in full view of the firm’s 30 million+ online audience. Those partners will be selected on an invitation only basis in order to keep the collections concise and to ensure that partner brands that “share our (Decathlon’s) values and mission.”

In return, Decathlon will ask for a commission and certain criteria to be met on customer service, including a baseline of good product ratings of approximately 4/5 or 80% to ensure a certain level of product quality. The commission structure is variable, depending on the item listed and from information CI.N has seen generally runs between 10% and 18%. Bulky goods, including bikes, will be charged at 13%.

In Belgium the marketplace currently accounts for 8.5% of all sales on the Belgium website and marketplace sales at Decathlon are projected to exceed 1 billion Euros across Europe within 5 years.

The fine detail of the agreement will require third-party sellers to agree to certain terms on speed of dispatch and a high order acceptance rate. The first line of customer service interaction will be with Decathlon. Refunds must take no more than three days, asks the agreement.

Participation is further designed to give third-parties access to six European markets in the second phase of deployment – Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and Poland. Also due in the second phase roll out will be the option of fulfillment by Decathlon and the possibility to add services for sale.

“We are in fact already working big names in the UK cycling scene, as well as independent brands like Donda Cycling and Pendle Bike Racks,” a Decathlon source told CI.N. “We are proud of the quality and value of our in house brands, but the marketplace model allows us to offer more choice and to open up new categories.”

Decathlon’s online retail trade is already worth north of £100 million revenue in 2020 having achieved a triple digit growth during the pandemic.

Ashley Milns, Decathlon Marketplace Business Developer, added: “Our mission is to sustainably make sport accessible to the many and our new marketplace allows us to improve our current range whilst opening up new categories, catering for an even wider range of customers.

“We’re very proud of our in-house passion brands, and the innovation and quality they offer. However, we want to be able to offer UK customers the best choice of sports products and we believe our marketplace will achieve this.”

Elsewhere the business has made adaptations this year by announcing a “circular economy” drive that will see the firm offer returned and repaired customer bikes for re-sale, among other environmentally conscious ideas for its stocks. More recently it announced that the first store in Wales would open shortly.

Partners interested in the arrangement can express an interest by email here.