Decathlon UK has opened a new marketplace, enabling health and sport brands to sell direct to its customers.
The marketplace is launching with UK brands including London start-up Donda Cycling and Pendle Bike Racks, a Lancashire firm founded in 1977, selling alongside international brands including Adidas and Speedo. It is also inviting new partners to join its marketplace, selling alongside Decathlon’s own products on decathlon.co.uk. By doing so, it aims to broaden still further the range that shoppers can buy on its website, including technical and innovative products.
Ashley Milns, Decathlon marketplace business developer, says: “Our mission is to sustainably make sport accessible to the many and our new marketplace allows us to improve our current range whilst opening up new categories, catering for an even wider range of customers.
“We’re very proud of our in-house passion brands, and the innovation and quality they offer. However, we want to be able to offer UK customers the best choice of sports products and we believe our marketplace will achieve this.”
The shift towards selling via a marketplace is a part of Decathlon’s international strategy. Its first marketplace opened on its Belgian website, where marketplace sales now account for 8.5% of sales on the website. Overall, Decathlon expects to see more than a billion euros in marketplace sales within five years.
The site has been created with marketplace specialist Mirakl. Luca Cassina, executive vice president customer success EMEA at Mirakl, says, “Decathlon is a true platform pioneer. The team, driven by innovation and their desire to respond to customer demand, recognised very early on the huge value the marketplace model can bring to scale their product offering quickly. Already powering their Belgian marketplace, we are delighted to now bring our expertise and leading technology to Decathlon UK. We look forward to supporting them every step of the way as the marketplace grows.”
Decathlon, founded in Lille, France in 1976, currently sells in the UK online and through more than 40 stores.
