After its move into Mexico last year, Decathlon intends to more than double its number of stores in the country this year, expanding the network from three to seven stores. Decathlon's three Mexican stores are in Querétaro, Mexico City and in Arco Norte, north of the capital.
El Financiero, which discussed the business with Decathlon's general manager in Mexico, Eric Fortune, reports that the French retailer already has three more sites lined up in Ecatepec, Polanco and La Roma, a district in Mexico City.
The retailer has also started sourcing some of its products in Mexico, as part of its efforts to make prices affordable to the greatest number of people. The target is to have about one-third of the products made in Mexico in the next five years, the newspaper continues. More than 95 percent of the products sold in Mexico are reportedly from private labels.
Decathlon is also expanding in Africa. It opened in December a 1,200-square-feet store in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, as well as a store in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The giant French sports retailer has also opened a small store in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, across from the local French Embassy.
The products are shipped from Decathlon's distribution center in Morocco. Ghana and Tunisia should be next this year, says a French trade magazine, Sport Eco.
