Oxylane Group, parent company of Décathlon, inaugurated a new continental distribution center last month in the Delta 3 business park of Dourges, not far from its head office near Lille. The new hub, which has required an investment of €42 million, will centralize all the logistic functions of the group at the international level, while helping to handle shipments to the growing number of regional distribution centers that service its stores all over Europe.
Situated along the A1 highway, the 51,000-square-meter complex includes 3,000 m² of office space and testing labs. It is currently occupied by a staff of 250 people, expected to grow to 300 later on. Of those, 59 people come from a nearby warehouse at Lompret that will be turned into a site for one of Décathlon’s exclusive brands. Another 70 will have been recruited from outside before the end of this year.
The investment brings up to seven the number of continental distribution centers operated by the group in five different countries around the world. As Oxylane’s 492 stores in 19 countries carry no inventories, they are supplemented by 23 regional centers and 30 warehouses, of which 16 are located in France, four in Spain and three in Italy.
This huge logistic set-up employs 3,500 persons in 19 countries and is designed to handle 500 million SKUs and 40,000 containers of merchandise landing at 36 harbors every year.
The new center at Dourges will handle 76 million SKUs and 7,000 containers as of this year. It has 76 docking stations and a capacity for 29,000 pallets. It uses solar panels and other features intended to save energy. It gets much of the merchandise carried by train or by boat.
Another continental distribution center is now set to open around 2011 in Zaragoza, Spain, following approval of the project by the local authorities. The new hub will start up with a surface of 50,000 m², due to be expanded to 75,000 m² later on, and employ 350 persons. It is supposed to service stores all over southern Europe. A new Décathlon store of 8,000 m² will also open nearby, replacing an existing store.
