Selling on Decathlon

Decathlon is transforming its webshop into a marketplace. This change will make it possible for external partners to start using Decathlon’s platform to offer their products. Decathlon started its marketplace platform in Belgium first. An expansion of the marketplace is ongoing and includes countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The company is starting this process in order to increase the breadth and volume of its offering, without sacrificing productivity.

Ultimately, the goal of Decathlon is to offer 200.000 products on its platform. At the moment, this number fluctuates between 40.000 and 50.000. Partnering up with external sellers will help Decathlon grow the number of products they offer. Decathlon receives a commission on the products sold by partners on their platform.

Contents:

• The power of marketplaces
• What is Decathlon?
• Why sell on Decathlon?
• Easy-to-use interface
• Decathlon's USPs
• How selling on Decathlon works

As a marketplace specialist, Brandsom knows all the ins and outs of the right sales strategy for various marketplaces, including Decathlon. The new platform offers partners great benefits, and our specialists have already done the research for you. Want to know more about Decathlon or other marketplace-related matters? Click on the arrow below and get in touch with one of our specialists. 

The power of marketplaces 

For Decathlon, cooperation with external partners is an appealing business model. Other big marketplaces, such as Amazon, Bol.com, and Zalando have been successfully using this strategy to generate extra income.

Not only do the retailers themselves benefit from this business model, but partners take advantage of the growth and visibility of well-known online marketplaces too. We have listed some of the reasons for selling through online marketplaces below:

• Businesses earn extra income.
• As a partner, less money needs to be spent on marketing.
• More opportunities to expand business across borders.
• Ensures transparency in availability, stock, and pricing.
• Your business can go on 24/7. 
• The constant presence and visibility create brand awareness and build trust with customers.
• Customers are more likely to buy from a marketplace that offers a wide range of products. 
• Partners pay no fees if they don’t sell anything. They only pay a commission on products sold via the platform. 
• Setting up the marketplace correctly will also generate more visits to your own website. 
  
  

Allowing partners to use major online marketplaces is changing the retail landscape considerably. It is estimated that more than 40% of products worldwide are already being sold through an online marketplace. Brandsom offers a wide range of marketplace-related services to help your brand sell on Decathlon's platform. We can help you with product onboarding, ad campaigning, and optimizing product content.

What is Decathlon?

Decathlon is a French chain of sports stores that was founded in 1976. The brand is especially known for its size, both in terms of actual shops and the number of branches. Almost every shop has a floor area of several thousand square metres. The product range consists of sports, camping, and outdoor articles. From skiing to snorkelling - the range of sports equipment is available for as many as 68 different sports.

With all this floor space in the shops, it is possible for customers to try out products before purchasing them. In addition, expert employees walk around the store to give advice and there are repair areas for defective items. Decathlon offers well-known brands as well as its own sports brands. By 2019, the sporting goods chain already had more than 1.500 branches. The marketplace concept contributed to the rapid growth.

Why sell on Decathlon?

Decathlon is known for its relatively inexpensive prices, its wide range of products, and its offer of technical sports products. The chain caters to both beginners and experienced athletes. Anyone that is interested in any type of sporting goods is a potential Decathlon customer. 

The chain’s mission to improve sustainability and living standards through sport, healthy food, and wellness, appeals to many consumers. With this mission, it wants to create a positive and impactful community that strives for a healthy, active, and humane world. Suppliers of sporting goods often endorse this mission and want to contribute.

Easy-to-use interface

Decathlon wants to make it easy and efficient for partners to sell their products through their platform. They aim to build in a process that requires as few manual operations from partners as possible. This way, the products that partners sell through Decathlon will automatically appear in the backend of their own webshop. The rest of the process proceeds in the same way as usual.    

Integrating your webshop with the Decathlon marketplace plugin will make selling through the platform easy. Our advice is to create smart filters in your own Decathlon shop, such as price, brand name, stock, and margin. These filters will ensure that customers who are looking for a specific product, will find your offer quicker. At Brandsom, we focus exclusively on marketplaces. Therefore, we have the knowledge to make sure your brand and products will be seen on Decathlon's platform. We offer help with optimizing your product pages, and as partners of several integrators, we are well-informed on various integration possibilities.

Decathlon’s USPs

It is clear that Decathlon is growing rapidly. The marketplace is becoming more widely known in multiple countries. We have listed some figures and benefits of Decathlon’s marketplace below:

• Number 1 sports retailer worldwide.
• Advertising possibilities via Decathlon.
• 85 million visitors in Germany.
• 13,6 million visitors in Belgium.
• 96 million visitors in France.
• Payments to partners are made every 10 days.

How selling on Decathlon works

To be able to start selling on Decathlon, you need to link your webshop to the marketplace interface. This way, sales via Decathlon are automatically registered to your own system. Registration to Decathlon is done by filling in the registration form that can be found on their website.

For the time being, Decathlon does not offer any fulfilment options. However, they do indicate that they plan to expand their logistics services for partners. The company wants to continue to listen to its partners, expand partnerships, and stay relevant to its customers. 

Consultancy about selling on Decathlon? Get in touch with a specialist from Brandsom

Want to know more about the right sales strategy for selling on Decathlon? Our specialists have already done the research for you. You can get in touch with us by filling in the contact form below. You can also mail to contact@brandsom.nl or call us at 030-2270520.