Does Décathlon have the optimum STP to maximize its growth?

Résumé du document

The French sports article market is doing well, with good opportunities in the medium term. However it is a very competitive market and newcomers do not hesitate to implement aggressive strategies. In 2003, the French sports article market was the most important in the whole of Europe with a global turnover of 8.4 billion euros. There are 3800 stores specialised in sports and leisure articles in France: in 2003, their turnover amounted to 5.8 billion euros. The first five specialised stores (Décathlon, Intersport, Go Sport, Sport 2000, et Techniciens du Sport) alone make up for more than 80% of this turnover. As seen in the graph, the sales of sports article grew by 4.2% in 2003 while the growth was quite limited at the end of the nineties. Large distributors such as Décathlon, Go Sport, Intersport, and Sport 2000 largely contributed to this phenomenon since their average turnover grew by 8.3% the same year. Small retailers: They offer small ranges of products but at higher prices. The small retailers represented 2.9% of the market share in 2000 and they had an estimated turnover of 137 million €. The typical stores in this category are: Les Techniciens du Sport, Running Conseil, and all the specialists of cycles.

Extraits

[...] It also opened its own website in 2000. The greatest strength of Quechua is its ability to react quickly to changing fashions. Quechua achieves this by being close to consumers. Indeed, it delocalised its headquarters in 1999 and set up in Sallanches, at the bottom of the Mont Blanc. A monobrand Quechua store was also opened in Sallanches. This way, the designers, engineers, marketing staff and salesmen (who are all mountain sports' amateurs) can observe consumer behaviours and fashion trends on a daily basis. [...]

[...] Therefore the concept of Décat' is a good idea because it should stress the fact that Décathlon's brands are of high quality and aesthetic. Nevertheless, Décathlon has to go even further by offering specific products for those urban customers. Products should be designed according to the sportswear fashion and to the trends related to the sports often practised by urban citizens. -Create a new brand only for sportswear/fashionable products. The risk is that, becoming direct competitors of brands such as Nike, Adidas and so on, Décathlon might no longer be allowed to sell their products. [...]

[...] Geologic This is Décathlon's nature sports brand. g. Domyos This brand is dedicated to running and fitness. h. A new brand for running-athletics in preparation Décathlon has let know that it will soon launch a brand to compete with Adidas, Nike etc. III/ PESTEL analysis 1. Political : The main policies of the different governments are to make exchanges between countries easier and to achieve a good cooperation between countries. The Longuet Law of 1994 in France protects brands as intellectual properties. [...]

[...] Thanks to her signature on Quechua's snowboards, Quechua sold as many snowboards as Salomon in 2003. Quechua also benefits from a highly efficient shelves setting policy. The Quechua-branded products are not alone in the shelves of Décathlon stores. They are next to a few branded products (in minority) that are far more expensive than Quechua's, thus making the choice for Quechua almost unavoidable. This strategy works so well that for certain products such as skiing clothes, Quechua almost saturates the market. Competitors are left well behind. [...]

[...] There are less and less retailers and the competition is getting tougher. Suppliers, as the market is doing well, have more power to impose their own delays and their quality. Apart from small towns and particular places (shops in skiing stations, shops on the seaside, ) the model of mass retailing is the dominant model. There are sport shops in France. The prices, whatever the brand, are decreasing due to the pressure that mass retailing is putting (Footlocker, WalMart, Décathlon) on the sector. [...]