Decathlon to hire 2,500 people in India, invest €100 million by 2030

Decathlon, the French sports gear and fitness equipment brand, said it would hire 2,500 new people, double revenues to ₹8,000 crore and invest €100 million in India by 2030.

Decathlon India CEO, Sankar Chatterjee told The Hindu that the French brand was capitalising on the growing sports markets in India. The brand was not focussing much on premiumisation, but on affordability and economy of scale in India, he indicated.

“India is very attractive and a large sports market for us. We want to grow market share in sports in a growing economy. I think everybody looks towards India as big things are expected to happen here in the next 10 years,’’ he said, adding that the number of Indians who practice some kind of sports has increased to 12% at present from 5% in 2018.

According to Mr. Chatterjee, Decathlon is seeing rapid growth in the top seven cities along with 50 other cities across the country where it has a presence today. Growing interest in practicing sports, yoga sports, active lifestyle and increasing travel, have been driving sales for the brand, he added.

On Decathlon’s focus on localisation (sourcing), he said, some 60% of all products it sold in India were sourced locally and the company has a goal to increase it to 80% in the next five years. The firm, which currently employs over 5,000 people across 136 stores directly and over 80,000 people indirectly in India, targets to create indirect employment opportunities for over 300,000 people by 2030.

Decathlon was in production in India for the last 25 years before the brand commenced retailing here 16 years ago, Mr. Chatterjee said further. The brand has seven long-term partners in the country for bikes, textile, fabric and backpack and 60 suppliers who run 102 factories.

Decathlon’s own channel and external channels contribute to 16% of its online sales. The company also forayed into quick commerce space by launching the service in seven cities recently.

“We have been receiving positive responses to our quick commerce offerings in two hours. This is a complimentary revenue growth channel for us,’’ Mr. Chatterjee pointed out.

Decathlon also signed with partners like Blinkit who offers deliveries in 10 minutes, for products like cricket ball, shuttlecock, swimming cap, swimming goggles, etc.