How Decathlon Nailed Their Omnichannel Retail Marketing Strategy

Reading Time: 5 minutes

There is a massive shift in consumer behavior across the globe affecting the buying pattern. Consumers moved to essential shopping, focusing more on wellness, and planning a more healthy life. Thereby affecting the way brands engage with them especially observing a massive shift in retail marketing. Additionally, retail brands are focusing on creating a better experience by moving to digital platforms (websites and apps).

Did you know there’s been a 10% growth in online customer base month-on-month? That’s huge, right. What does all this mean for typical retailers and their retail marketing?

A shift in buying pattern and retail marketing

Consider this—the number of new users downloading e-commerce apps has increased by 15.09% globally. Clearly showcasing the change in spending patterns but not eliminating spending on goods completely.

This article will be concentrating on this part—how retailers can create a holistic omnichannel experience. We spoke to Akriti Malik, Product Manager from one of the biggest retail sports brands, Decathlon. Akriti has been playing a momentous role in creating and executing a holistic omni-experience for a brand like Decathlon.

After talking to Akriti about strategic planning on creating such an experience, we realized how everyone can benefit from Decathlon’s success story. In this article, we’ll cover:

• Decathlon’s omnichannel retail marketing success story
• Detailed use cases on executing a holistic omni-experience approach
  • Approach #1: Scan and Pay
  • Approach #2: Store Pick-up

Let’s get started on understanding how Decathlon provided a successful omnichannel customer experience.

Decathlon’s omnichannel retail marketing success story

With the world changing around these brands, its consumers’ shift was apparent. The need was to focus on buying essentials, step out on a need basis, make health and wellness a priority, and shop online. Clearly, that’s the new normal.

Consumers now realize the need and importance of owning everything at the speed and space of just one-click. Many industries like Hospitality, Travel, and Mobility were noticing atleast 10-15% drop in their downloads and DAUs. Industries like Online Shopping (retail, e-commerce, and food delivery), BFSI, Healthcare, and Fitness are observing a growth of atleast 20-50%. It is obvious that many brands are now fast-tracking their digital presence and ensuring they cater to their consumers.

Creating an omnichannel experience with Decathlon

The uptake in Online Shopping and Healthcare and Fitness is allowing many brands—retail, e-commerce and health/fitness—to get back in business using digital platforms. Although some retailers still kickstarting their digital presence, the popular retail brand Decathlon quickly realized the need and fast-tracked their digital presence.

They understand consumers required something as important as staying fit and living a healthy lifestyle to be just a click away. And this is where their valuable goods and services came in handy-demand.

For a brand like Decathlon, the promise has always been to ensure making sports accessible to the many. With the uncertain times looming on and on, the brand understood the need of providing consumers safe and contactless shopping experience. And, the first step towards the actualization of this objective was to relook at their retail marketing. After prolonged planning, the brand’s team decided to:

• bridge the gaps between the offline and online product marketing strategy, and
• create a truly Omni-experience for our users.

To turn this idea into reality, the brand’s product marketing team identified and worked on some crucial yet quick to initiate.

Use Case #1

Scan and pay shopping experience

This use case’s sole objective is to make users autonomous in their purchase journey and avoid any unnecessary physical interactions. Decathlon charted out a step-by-step journey through their App driving the user to the end-goal i.e., seamless purchase.

1. Store Location Detection: When the users launch the Decathlon App inside the store through geo-location tracking, the team locate them inside the store and provide them store-specific prices and deals.
2. Scan & Pay: On scanning a product barcode or QR Code users can add products to their cart and complete their journey by paying digitally through the App.
3. Exit Store: The security guards scan the QR code generated on the billing screen of the users’ App to validate the bill and users can then exit the store.

Use Case #2

Contactless pick up from store

The second use case’s key objective is formalized to ensure no-contact purchase and pick-up is maintained. The brand offered ease in purchase using an app or website and then moved these converted users to store pick-up. Here are the ways Decathlon ensured pick-up from store option was most optimal.

1. Zero contact – No human to human contact while the users shop for their sports so an easy online purchase online.
2. Faster lead time – This shopping was faster in comparison to in-store and after a 2-hour lead time users can collect their products from the respective nearby stores.
3. Cost-effective – To ensure the user was only paying for the product allowed users to save on the delivery cost of the items.
4. Safety – Guaranteed the supply chain is sanitized before and after the delivery of the product

How does the pick-up from the store work?

We provide our users with two convenient options for in-store pick-up:

1. Drive-Thru (Pick-up from parking)

2. Pick-up from the waiting zone at Store

Here’s your copy of the retail marketing omnichannel checklist

Decathlon has been able to grab their consumer eyeballs at the right moment by offering a seamless shopping experience. Moreover, they ensured their website and app were revamped on time and were ready to serve the consumer at their offline as well as an online store. This particular preparedness to be where the consumers have helped the brand observe a 10% rise in their sales even with this looming pandemic. All this was possible because the brand was ready with its groundwork and an in-depth, handy checklist.

Here’s how you can create a similar experience for your shoppers. Download the exclusive Decathlon’s Omnichannel checklist for a dynamic retail marketing ⬇️⬇️⬇️. Also ensure that you incorporate similar fundamentals for your offline to online movement, and voila!

Download Checklist