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Decathlon UK is inviting new partners to join its marketplace, bringing together a specially curated selection of brands to help make sport more accessible.
Thousands of new products will sit alongside Decathlon’s in-house products on decathlon.co.uk, enhancing its existing offer with technical and innovative products.
This latest initiative from Decathlon will help the company to stay ‘ahead of the curve’ as its business model continues to adapt to the changing retail landscape. Research shows that marketplaces are growing twice as fast as overall e-commerce.
Decathlon’s new marketplace will enable the company to capitalise on this growth and meet rapidly evolving consumer demand. Powered by the Mirakl Marketplace Platform, it will provide an environment in which businesses that sell to consumers and/or other businesses can sell physical items or services.
By adding thousands of new products, Decathlon will be able to cater for a wider range of UK customers, improving stock availability and opening up new categories. The marketplace is part of a wider international strategy, with Mirakl-powered Decathlon marketplaces already publicly launched in Belgium, with more country launches planned in the coming months. In Belgium, the marketplace currently accounts for 8.5% of all sales on the Belgium website and marketplace sales at Decathlon are projected to exceed €1 billion across Europe within five years.
“Decathlon is a true platform pioneer,” said Luca Cassina, executive vice president customer success EMEA, Mirakl. “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 has also decided to work with partners that share its values of quality and accessibility. Additionally, it said it is ‘particularly excited’ to be working with a number of local UK brands.
Founding partners include Donda Cycling and Pendle Bike Racks. Along with independent UK brands, distributors and resellers, Decathlon will be working directly with some of the biggest names in sport, from Adidas to Speedo.
Ashley Milns, Decathlon Marketplace business developer, added: “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.
“We already have a great lineup of partners selling on our marketplace but for any business that feels it can bring value to our customer can express an interest by contacting ashley.milns@decathlon.com.”
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