Decathlon Grows By 4% On A Comparable Basis, Mostly Outside France

Oxylane, the parent company of Décathlon, has reported a 9.5 percent increase in its total sales to €5,440 million before VAT in 2009, reinforcing its position as the world’s largest integrated sporting goods retailer. The vast majority of the turnover was represented by the Décathlon retail stores as the other activities – Decat, Kootza, Skimium and the Décathlon e-commerce facilities – still play a very marginal role.

Most of the growth occurred outside France. For the first time, the group’s sales outside France were higher than those in its domestic market, rising from 49 to 53 percent of the total turnover. They were only partly due to new store openings.

Company officials declined to provide precise figures, but they indicated that Décathlon’s growth in France was more or less in line with the trend in the specialty sports retail sector, where the integrated retail chains saw their sales after VAT rise by 1.4 percent to €4.42 million (see previous issue of SGI Europe). They said the average price of the goods they sold continued to go down, in accordance with Décathlon’s policy to make purchases of sporting goods accessible to more and more people.

They also confirmed in general a report indicating that the group raised its advertising expenditures in France last year by 21 percent to €36.5 million.

Overall, the group’s sales went up by 4 percent on a comparable store basis. The company closed two stores in France and opened 45 new Décathlon stores, including nine in Spain, six in Portugal, and five in France and Italy. It ended up with a total of 472 Décathlon stores in 14 countries. The following chart lists the number of stores per country at the end of 2009 and the number of stores opened in that year.

As previously reported, Décathlon entered the Romanian market last year and is now attacking Turkey. A 3,000-m² Décathlon store was opened in Ankara on April 14 and another one is set to follow on May 19 in Istanbul, measuring 5,000 m². Other openings are planned in the Czech Republic, Germany, Portugal, Russia and other countries. Overall, the number of new openings should be similar to last year.

In the past year, one of the drivers of growth was no doubt the development of more innovative and attractive items under the group’s various private labels. The company pointed to a design prize won for one of its bike models, b’Twin Elops 4, and to an inline skate, the Oxelo Diabolo, that was elected as its best innovation by a jury composed of 1,300 employees, journalists and clients. It features a special brake that reduces braking distance by an average of 38 percent. Two other products – the Inesis Ygolf system and the Tribord Weego – also got high marks in this contest.

A company spokesman confirmed a report that Olivier Leclercq has replaced his father, Michel Leclercq, founder of Décathlon, as chairman of Oxylane’s supervisory board. The 43-year-old manager is one of Michel Leclercq’s four children. Among other activities inside and outside the group, he opened up its production in Thailand and set up a chain of apartment hotels, called Olivarius.

The spokesman confirmed that the Oxylane group continues to generate high profits. A report indicates that they increased by about 20 percent last year, judging from the stock bonuses reserved for the company’s employees.