Campaign spotlight | ‘Can’t return it, won’t quit it’: Decathlon flips retail logic to fight fitness failure

When Decathlon Canada made its best-selling running shoe unreturnable for the entire month of January, the sporting goods retailer wasn’t just launching a marketing campaign. It was conducting a behavioral experiment at the intersection of retail psychology, commitment devices, and an uncomfortable industry truth: 92 percent of New Year fitness resolutions fail.

The campaign, developed with creative agency Rethink, flips conventional e-commerce wisdom on its head. Instead of removing friction from the customer journey, it deliberately introduces it as a strategic tool for long-term commitment. Between Jan. 1 and 31, customers purchasing the KIPRUN 500 WR running shoes must acknowledge they’re waiving their right to return the product. The purchase becomes a pledge.

This Decathlon Canada campaign targets Quitters Day and beyond

The timing addresses a specific commercial reality. Jan. 9 marks what the industry has dubbed “Quitters Day” – the second Friday of January when New Year fitness resolutions begin their steep decline. According to a 2019 study by fitness tracking app Strava, 80 percent of people abandon their resolutions by this point. Drive Research data from 2024 shows that while 48 percent of Canadians prioritize fitness as their top New Year resolution, the vast majority fail to see them through.

Decathlon’s response transforms a vulnerability into a value proposition. On the product page for the KIPRUN 500 WR – versatile, water-repellent running shoes that represent one of the brand’s top sellers – customers encounter a warning during checkout. By purchasing, they’re agreeing not to return the shoes. They’re committing to keep moving.

The campaign sweetens the commitment with 1,000 loyalty points awarded at purchase. Customers keep the points by honoring their pledge for 30 days. It’s a two-way investment structure: the brand bets on the customer’s commitment, and the customer has something tangible to lose by giving up.

Strategy through friction challenges retail orthodoxy

The campaign represents a calculated departure from retail’s core directive to eliminate purchase hesitation. “We often talk about removing friction from the customer journey, yet here, we’re using friction as a strategic tool for motivation,” said Xavier Blais, partner and executive creative director at Rethink. “By challenging the standard return policy, we’re leaning into a fundamental brand truth: Decathlon deeply cares about its customers staying active.”

The approach transforms Decathlon from vendor to accountability partner. It’s a positioning move that acknowledges what traditional fitness marketing often avoids: the gap between intention and execution is where most resolutions die. By making the shoe unreturnable, Decathlon removes the easy out that retail convenience has normalized.

The campaign acknowledges another commercial reality: returns create significant logistics costs and margin pressure. January typically sees return rates spike as post-holiday purchases and impulse fitness buys flood back into the system. By filtering purchases through a commitment mechanism, Decathlon potentially improves what industry analysts call “intent quality” – customers who actually plan to use what they buy.

Apple takes complementary approach with Ring in the New Year

While Decathlon uses restriction as motivation, Apple is pursuing a parallel strategy with its annual Ring in the New Year challenge. Apple Watch users who close all three Activity rings for seven consecutive days in January earn a limited-edition award. The tech company is also partnering with Strava on a Quit Quitting challenge, awarding badges to users who log 12 workouts during the month.

Apple’s approach differs in execution but shares the same commercial insight: January fitness momentum requires structured intervention, not just inspiration. The company’s Apple Heart and Movement Study analyzed data from 100,000 participants over four years and found that Apple Watch users consistently increase exercise levels in January and maintain them past Quitters Day.

Starting Jan. 5, Apple Fitness+ introduced four new multi-week workout programs designed to build habits through progressive training plans. The programs – Make Your Fitness Comeback, Build a Yoga Habit in 4 Weeks, Back-to-Back Strength and HIIT, and Strength Basics in 3 Weeks – remove decision-making friction by providing structured weekly routines.

Both approaches reveal a shift in how sporting goods brands and technology companies are positioning around New Year fitness: from motivational messaging to behavioral architecture. The campaigns acknowledge that willpower alone has proven insufficient against the structural forces that make quitting easy.

 

 

 

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From aspirational marketing to accountability

The Decathlon campaign signals a potential evolution in how sporting goods brands approach the critical January window. Traditional New Year fitness marketing has relied on aspirational messaging and product features. This campaign embeds commitment mechanisms into the transaction itself, making the purchase decision a moment of accountability rather than just commerce.

The creative execution extends beyond digital interfaces. Out-of-home advertising across Canada featured blunt messaging in English and French: “You can’t return these shoes.” The directness cuts through typical fitness marketing optimism to acknowledge the likelihood of failure – and position the brand as an active intervention against it.

What makes the campaign commercially interesting is how it reframes a potential negative – removing a customer-friendly return policy – as a value proposition for people who genuinely want to change behavior. It presumes a specific customer mindset: awareness that past resolutions have failed, and willingness to try a different approach.

Whether the strategy converts browsers into buyers, and buyers into sustained users, will provide data on a fundamental marketing question: can retail policy become a commitment device that drives long-term behavior change? Or does removing convenience simply reduce purchase intent?

The campaign runs through Jan. 31, 2026. Customer retention through February will provide the first indicator of whether strategic friction can succeed where traditional motivation has consistently failed.