Décathlon is partnering with Asda, the British mass market retailer, to test out a new shop-in-shop format at its supermarket stores, according to Retail Week. The space of about 130 square meters would be used to feature a small selection of products and to give customers access to Décathlon's web store through a touch screen.
At the same time, Décathlon is working on its fourth store in London, which is due to open in the new Wandsworth Town shopping center. It currently operates 18 full-line stores in the U.K., which has proven to be one of the most difficult markets for the French banner until recently. Apparently, it has been improving its position by developing specific private label products for the U.K., and it is now enjoying a similar expansion as in other parts of Europe.
In Switzerland, meanwhile, Otto's, a large retailer involved in many different sectors, acquired Netto Sport Discount earlier this month, but it is apparently not interested in pursuing its retail concept. Like Asda in the U.K., it is said to be planning to open instead sports-related corners in its own existing outlets. Netto Sport Discount, a price-driven sporting goods retailer based in Ostermundigen near Bern, already shut down its store in the region at the end of February.
Otto's should not be confused with Otto of Hamburg, a German large-scale retailer and shopping mall operator whose holdings include the big Sport Scheck chain. The Swiss Otto's operates some 100 outlets in Switzerland under various banners, specializing in low-cost offerings in various categories including apparel, footwear, furniture, fragrances and cars. The group was founded in the 1980s by Otto Ineichen, who passed away in 2012. He handed over operations to his son Mark in 2001.
Multi-banner retailing can go the other way around, with sporting goods stores hosting shop-in-shops under different banners. In the U.K., following a strategy already implemented elsewhere, Sports Direct has just opened a large, 49,900-square-foot sports store in Glasgow with shop-in-shops running under some of the group's other retail banners: Robinsons, a retailer of equestrian products; Dragon Carp, a fishing tackle retailer; Pulp, a small chain young fashion stores; and USC, a big fashion retailer that SDI wants to downsize.
Sports Direct's big rival, JD Sports Fashion, plans to do something similar in the outdoor sector with a format called Ultimate Outdoor, especially on the internet, where multi-banner retailing is more common and easier to implement. An example of that from the luxury goods sector is the acquisition of Net-a-Porter by Yoox, which has just been announced.
More on this in The Outdoor Industry Compass.
