Decathlon has released the 2023 edition of its Declaration of Extra-Financial Performance (DPEF), reviewing its measures regarding ESG (environmental, social and governance). The details sprawl over more than 240 pages.
The CEO’s introduction suggests that the salient points are the staff training, “equity,” and “internationalization,” the value chain, and environmental matters, especially CO2 emissions and what the company calls eco-design (éco-conception).
In 2023, to continue educating its employees, the company combined Decathlon Academy and Decathlon Exchange to establish a new entity, Decathlon University. Physical sites and an online platform are scheduled to open this year. This year, it will also open the House of Well-Being and Health (Maison du bien-être et de la santé).
The company also brought up to date its list of high-risk trades, of which there are four categories: retail (large staff), real estate (financial stakes, dealings with government agencies), production (third-party suppliers, financial stakes) and logistics (great variety of activities). The company conducted compliance checks in Algeria, Bulgaria and Italy. Its anonymous platform for whistle-blowing, Whispli, was used 287 times in 2023 (156 times in 2022), the top five motives being “other” (83), moral harassment (68), contractual labor disputes (42), discrimination (35) and sexual harassment (24).
Decathlon hopes by 2026 to achieve parity in management between men and women, and to that end, instituted over the course of 2023 a program called Women in Leadership. Team management and the overall staff, however, showed slight declines for the year in the women’s share of the pie (down 1.1 and 3.3 percentage points respectively). The Executive Committee, which has two new members, is as close to parity as an odd total can get – six versus five – but the balance tips towards men. The CEO, however, remains a woman: Barbara Martin Coppola.
Last year, Decathlon began subjecting its suppliers to external ESG evaluation, conducted by EcoVadis. Companies that score 45 or below on the 100-point scale must submit an improvement plan and undergo an external audit.
The company’s own emissions declined year-on-year from 11.595 million to 10.435 million tons of CO2 equivalent, or by 10.0 percent. Its use of electricity also declined, from 775.3 million to 687.2 million kWh, or by 11.4 percent.
| Decathlon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra-financial performance - FY 2023 | ||||
| 2023 | 2022 | Change | ||
| Revenues | €15.6 billion | €15.4 billion | 1.3% | |
| Online sales as share of revenues | 12.4% | 16.8% | -4.4 pp | |
| “Circular” revenues | 2.27% | 1.75% | +5.2 pp | |
| Countries/regions of distribution | 57 | 59 | -2 | |
| Countries/regions of production | 45 | 43 | +2 | |
| Global store count | 1,749 | 1,751 | -2 | |
| Warehouses and logistical hubs | 72 | – | – | |
| Supplier-partners | 53 | 52 | +1 | |
| Employees | 100,701 | 104,116 | -3.3% | |
| Men | 53.9% | 53.7% | +0.2 pp | |
| Women | 46.1% | 46.3% | -0.2 pp | |
| Top management | ||||
| Men | 69% | – | – | |
| Women | 31% | – | – | |
| Team management | ||||
| Men | 62.4% | 61.3% | +1.1 pp | |
| Women | 37.6% | 38.7% | -1.1 pp | |
| Executive Committee | 11 | – | – | |
| Men | 6 | – | – | |
| Women | 5 | – | – | |
| Total Decathlon brands | – | 36 | – | |
| YoY change in CO2 emissions | -11.7% | -1.7% | -10.2 pp | |
| Share of eco-designed products | 38.8% | – | – | |
| Beneficiaries of Decathlon Foundation | 44,819 | 46,860 | -4.4% | |
| Sources: DPEF 2022, DPEF 2023 | ||||
Despite the title, the report does contain some financial figures. Revenues for 2023 (taxed excluded) amounted to €15.6 billion, up 1.3 percent from 2022. Digital sales accounted for 12.4 percent of the 2023 total.
Decathlon has production operations in 45 countries/regions with 53 supplier partners and purchases 36.4 percent of its goods from its industrial partners.
The company distribution network for the year extended to 72 warehouses, feeding 1,749 stores in 57 countries. The company’s staff amounted to 100,701 employees (53.9% male, 46.1% female), split between sales and web service (76.5%), logistics (10.3%), design and production (5.6%) and support (7.7%).
In addition, we notice a net decrease of two (from 59 to 57) in the number of countries Decathlon distributes to. The reports for 2023 and 2022 do not clarify what changes occurred.
