Russian marketplace CDEK.Shopping has started selling Decathlon merchandise in Russia, the company said on March 10. Currently, nearly 50,000 items, or 80 percent of Decathlon’s total assortment, are available to Russian customers. The offer includes items under the Decathlon and Quechua brand names as well as Regatta, Hummel, Caperlan, Domyos, Nabaiji, Solognac and others.
CDEK.Shopping says it imports sporting goods of the French retailer from Poland, Germany and Turkey, where they are purchased in accordance with local laws, with delivery time to Russia limited to 30 days. The remaining 20 percent of the assortment, which is not available to Russian customers, mainly concerns bulkier products. CDEK.Shopping attributed this to logistical problems, but promised to fix them soon.
CDEK.Shopping does not sell leftover goods from Russian warehouses, as some other local companies do, which means that Russian customers can buy most of the goods from the latest collections, commented Dmitry Pivovarov, CEO of CDEK.Shopping.
The company also emphasized that its customers can pay for the ordered goods using cards issued by Russian banks, including cards issued by the domestic Mir payment system Mir. Since March 2022, cross-border transactions with MasterCard and Visa cards issued by Russian banks are no longer possible, neither for purchases in foreign online stores nor for transactions abroad.
The Russian marketplaces Ozon and Yandex.Market have been selling some Decathlon goods since the French company’s exit from Russia in 2022. They offer a limited assortment that is reportedly steadily shrinking, and both companies acknowledge that they sell what is left in warehouses after Decathlon left the country.
In the wake of the military conflict in Ukraine, Decathlon announced in March 2022 that it had decided to cease doing business in Russia. In January 2023, several Russian news agencies reported that the French retailer was in talks with local market players about selling its remaining assets in the country.
