Decathlon, the sporting goods manufacturer and retailer with headquarters in France, has appointed André Weinert as its new CEO for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. With immediate effect, the former CEO of Decathlon Germany thus assumes responsibility for 17 countries in which Decathlon is represented.
Weinert has been working for Decathlon since 2003. In addition to holding positions as store and regional manager in Germany, he spent several years managing the swim sports range as product manager in France until he returned to Germany as commercial director in 2017. For the last four years, he was responsible for the development of Decathlon in Germany as Managing Director.
Not only did Weinert lead the company safely through the Covid-19 pandemic, but together with the more than 6,000 teammates, he also recorded strong growth in recent years. Sales increased by 70 percent from €622 million in gross sales in 2018 to a record gross sales of €1.06 billion in 2022. Decathlon opened 36 new stores in Germany during the period but also optimized its store portfolio in terms of location, space size and assortment, closing 14 stores. Decathlon currently operates 85 stores in Germany. Another growth driver was the expansion of the digital business, including the launch of the online marketplace in 2021. The number of employees has also increased from 3,500 in 2018 to currently more than 6,000. The strong development is rounded off by a significant increase in profit. If Decathlon in Germany still achieved an Ebit of €4.3 million in 2018, the profit in 2022 amounted to €30.1 million.
Decathlon said it will announce a successor for Weinert’s role in Germany in the coming weeks.
