A STUDY OF RETAIL MANAGEMENT AND

VISUAL MERCHANDISING

 Dharneen Shah - 10
 Tejaswe Dheer - 30
 Chris Matthews - 39
 Tanveer Singh - 29
 Aman Chokhani - 4
 Moksh Chugh - 41
 INDEX
SR.NO TOPIC PAGE NUMBER
1 Company Background 2
2 Vision, Mission and analysis 3
3 Values 4
4 Marketing Mix 5
5 Target Market, Positioning and Communication 6
Strategy
6 Location Analysis 7 – 10
7 CRM at Decathlon 11 – 13
8 Store Layout 14 – 15
9 Visual Merchandising 16 – 22
10 Store Set Up 23 – 26
11 Supply Chain Management 27 – 28

1
 COMPANY
BACKGROUND
Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer. With over 1500 stores in 52
countries it is the world’s largest sporting goods retailer. Its holding
company was formerly known as Oxylane.

Decathlon was founded by Michel Leclercq in 1976 and started with a

store in Lille, France. It started to expand abroad a decade later. The
company employs more than 87,000 staff from 80 different countries.

Decathlon stocks a wide range of sporting goods, usually in large super

stores which are sized at an average of 4000 sq. metre. The French
retailer also owns over 20 brands with research and development facilities
all over France to develop the latest innovative designs, registering up to
40 patents per year. Each brand represents a different sport or group of
sports, with a dedicated product development and design team.

2
 VISION
To sustainably make the pleasure and benefit of sport accessible to many.

MISSION
Decathlon’s main mission is to make sport accessible to as many people
as we can. We would like to help, inspire, and guide you through your
sports experiences. We believe that being active and discovering new
sports every day is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Let’s do some
sports together as together is always more fun.

VISION-MISSION
ANALYSIS
The company’s vision is to make pleasure and benefit of sport accessible
to all. Decathlon wants to change the world into a place where everyone
has access to sport. Decathlon’s achieves this vision by offering products
both at low price and a good quality, or in other words developing
technical, good looking and simple products at the lowest possible prices.

A key aspect of Decathlon’s mission is placing innovation at the heart of

its activities. Unlike its competitors like GoSport and Intersport, Decathlon
has developed its own R&D department and manufactures itself its sub
brands. This has allowed Decathlon to become a leader in innovative sport
equipment.

3
 VALUES
Vitality: In company’s words, ‘Vitality is ‘Life, intense activity, energy,
drive and vigour. Our employees are full of vitality as they have a positive
mindset and are bursting with energy. They are enthusiastic, they love
creating and innovating and relentlessly strive to improve and make
things around them change.’

Responsibility: Decathlon believes that being responsible is about

making decisions and making sure they are acted upon. Employees are
fully responsible for their decisions, both in terms of their teams and
customers. Responsibility is also about anticipating the challenges facing
society and orienting one’s actions towards sustainable development.
Another responsibility is to guarantee the safety of customers and
employees all over the world.

4
 MARKETING MIX
 Product
As a leading sports and apparel brand, the product portfolio includes
sports equipment’s, accessories, clothing and much more. A wide
range of products are available for sports like football, cricket and
also for less popular sports, such as archery, billiard, field hockey
and scuba diving. There is a separate section for women and kids.
Decathlon also offers products from its own brands such as Kalenji,
Oxelo etc.
 Price
Decathlon aims to encourage sports all over the world and to do so
it offers products at affordable prices. It is known for offering
products which low priced without compromising on quality. This is

5
 because it has optimized internal processes in logistics and
designing. The brand is able to keep prices 20% lower than that of
its competitors. Cost leadership and good quality are the core
competency of the brand.
 Place
Decathlon has 1520 stores in 52 countries (as of 2019) which shows
its widely distributed network. For online purchases these Centre’s
carry out the transportation and delivery. It is able to maintain a 72
hour delivery time target because of efficient logistics and
distribution.
 Promotion
Decathlon is an innovative brand known for the quality of its
products. It has its own R&D department to cater to consumer
needs. Affordability and are quality are the differentiators for
Decathlon. The distinctive features are portrayed through
institutional publicity. It also promotes its self-owned brands which
are exclusively available at Decathlon stores. Decathlon provides a
unique in store experience to its customers, where customers can
spend time knowing more about a sport. This is a unique selling
point for Decathlon, which is highlighted in its promotion campaigns.

TARGET MARKET,
POSITIONING AND
COMMUNICATIONSTRA
TEGY
Decathlon targets the middle and the upper middle class. It focusses
primarily on families who enjoy sports together along with other key
demographics such as couples who take part in a specific sport.

6
Decathlon has a lower end price positioning and targets customers who
believe that value for money is more important than brand image. Due to
this it appeals to various age groups, particularly to those who participate
in sports or other outdoor activities, opposed to those who buy sportswear
as a fashion statement.

Decathlon uses the following sources in its communication strategy: -

1. Social Media: Facebook and YouTube are free and provide access to
large pool of customers.
2. Marketing Digital: E-mailing and site web are free but they have the
inconvenience of informatics.
3. Marketing Event: site events provide the advantage of having direct
contact with the participants
4. Street Marketing: Flyers and events allow to have direct contact
with the participants but it is difficult to predict how many people
will turn up for the event.
5. Print Marketing: Posters and hoardings allow to communicate with
the masses and are seen by everyone but are costly in nature.

LOCATION ANALYSIS
Decathlon Currently has 71 Brick and Mortar stores in India spread
across 19 states and union territories and also has an ecommerce site for
those who wish for convenience shopping with free delivery above
purchases of 999Rs.

Out of these 71 outlets 5 of those outlets are spread across Mumbai and
Navi Mumbai

7
Decathlon attempts to achieve promotion and distribution economies of
scale for all the multiple locations in Mumbai with each store at least 20
km apart from each other in such a way that trading area of 2 stores don’t
overlap.

The Outlet offers 5000 products covering over 70 sports and at much
cheaper price than their competitors making it a Unique differentiated
offering meaning Customers will travel wherever the store is located and
the location destination.

The Store we Analysed was Decathlon in R city Mall, Ghatkopar West : -

8
Accessibility

 the Outlets entrance is on the 1st floor of the Mall.

 9 floors of Parking space are offered by the mall which includes
Reserved parking for the Employees or salespeople working in the
Mall.
 The nearest metro station is 15 mins away from the Mall or 2.3
Kilometres away and conveniently the metro and the railway station
are 200 meters apart from each other. As well there are multiple
bus routes that pass in front of the mall

9
  Th Mall is at 10 Minute Distance from the Eastern Express Highway
which connects 4 out of the 5 Stores in Mumbai.

Competition

Decathlons is an Anchor Store for the Mall with no Direct Competition

but many of Decathlon’s Indirect competitors such as Puma, Adidas,
Wildcraft, Columbia Sportswear and Reebok have their outlet in R city
Mall which Attract Potential Customers as well as complimentary
retail stores adjacent to the Outlet such as Mini-so and Pantaloons
help build traffic in front of the Outlet.

Visibility of the Outlet

 Decathlon went lengths to advertise in and around the mall with

advertisements placed at the Entrance of the Mall, Parking Lot, on
the walls of the Food Court as well as advertisement billboards near
the mall.
 the Outlets entrance is right in front of the escalators which faces
High traffic flow meaning more customers are likely to stop and

10
 shop.

 The Outlet has higher ceiling and Larger store size compared to the
adjacent stores which help the store stand out.

Positive Aspects of the Location

 Location has a high footfall with access to the parking lot from each
floor and controlled temperatures
 The outlets size is huge giving them advantage to display and sell
all 5000 sports products covering 70 sports and avoiding the
possibility of congestion.
 Potential to access the traffic who are there visiting the mall for
other purposes such as recreational purposes like watching a movie,

11
 dining at restaurants, food court or shopping at stores that appeal to
similar target market.

Negative Aspects of the Location

 The cost of operating is high due to high rent as well as other

costs such as maintenance cost for the common areas, parking, etc.
however compared to other outlets in the mall it had to pay less
rent being an anchor store
 The Store entrance is at the corner of the mall away from the food
court so low visibility compared to its competitors.
 The possibility for customers to window shop and not buy is high.
 Competition in the area can affects demand for merchandise

CRM AT DECATHLON
Decathlon is driven by the ideology of being a user-centric company. Its
user experience team used to be dependent on their email system to
manage their customer and user requests/tickets. However, high reliance
on email system posed challenges in delivering customer happiness and

12
maintaining good customer relations. Besides facing the risk of customer
dissatisfaction, the lack of an integrated CRM software posed the following
key challenges for the company:

● Difficulty in monitoring and following up on a request, whether

closed, open, or pending.
● There was no tool to adequately measure agent productivity.
Therefore, Decathlon had to withhold its plan to link performance-
based incentives. These incentives or bonuses were to be
distributed to their staff based on user feedback and team
performance.
● An inefficient system to measure customer feedback.
● Agents’ performance evaluation without an organized reporting
mechanism.
● Analyse and understand customer (sports enthusiast) behaviour.

With the company expanding and increasing its store presence in India, it
was crucial for Decathlon to focus on customer satisfaction. This they did
by incorporating a structured customer response system.

● Decathlon’s internal CRM system integrated out-of-the-box

capabilities such as chat, email, phone, and social media (primarily
Facebook) channels.
● With new software, Decathlon is now able to measure and improve
its user happiness quotient. This has made it possible for Decathlon
to reply to every query and resolve every complaint with continuous
follow up combined with the least possibility of missing any event.
● The new reporting features have given the agents a chance to
monitor their daily or weekly performance. Decathlon management
now has access to performance measurement data and identify
performance-based incentives based on user happiness delivered by
an agent.
● With the Notes feature, agents are able to keep track of pending
items and follow up with customers as quickly as possible.

13
 ● By integrating the chat feature, agents at Decathlon are now able to
respond to customer queries very quickly. Following it up with
customer satisfaction surveys have helped improve the
performance of the team as well.

Other CRM initiatives taken up by Decathlon in India and other countries

are:

● Decathlon Hong Kong attempted to hire ‘Referents’ is CRM among

customers in order to ‘ensure CRM is one of our best retention
channels’.

● Decathlon UK introduced a Decathlon Card which gave users access

to exclusive decathlon events, 365 days returns without receipt and
product traceability for warranty support.

● Decathlon Netherlands came up with a card based loyalty program

called ‘Sportspas’ that offered a free sport experience worth 15-20
euros with every 200 euros spent.

● Decathlon India introduced their app, which has a scan, pay & go
feature.

● While they don’t have a tie-up with any credit cards or have a
private label credit card, they offer EMI with all major debit/credit
card brands.

● They record a history of transactions for account holders and

customers are made aware of this. Every time a purchase is made in
store, the customer is made to provide contact details (regardless of
whether they have an account or not) that is then connected to their
online purchases. Through this means, they build their customer
database.

14
● Decathlon is using API-led connectivity to merge its physical stores
and digital capabilities, driving new omnichannel experiences for its
customers. For example, Decathlon USA’s Emeryville, California
location integrated its cloud-based order management system with
mobile point-of-sale and cashless payment systems to eliminate the
need for consumers to go through a traditional checkout lane.
Pulling data from the same order management system, Decathlon
store associates can use their iPhones to share real-time aisle
inventory information with shoppers and order non-stocked items
for home delivery or in-store pickup.

● The most profitable customers for them are the sport enthusiasts
rather than beginners as they’re a lot more likely to purchase
complicated equipment which is generally pricier.

● In an attempt to engage customers, they have come up with a

plethora of activities that shoppers can instantly sign up for such as
the hike to Karnala Fort and the Decathlon Sports Utsav. With the
scan to register system it’s very user-friendly.

● They are rather honest and upfront about any defective products
and encourage customers to return their product for a refund.

● They offer free trials on their best selling sports equipment such as
bicycles that ensures customers know the product’s features
completely before making a purchase.

15
 STORE LAYOUT
Grid Layout

 The grid store layout design is a familiar, repetitive pattern favoured

by Supermarkets etc. There are multiple advantages to the grid
layout, including the following: 
1. Customers can move quickly through an efficient floor space using
standard fixtures and displays. 
2. The presentation is uniform and comfortable due to its popularity,
creating a seamless customer experience. 
3. Design simplifies inventory control for the retailer - a key to retail
strategy that leverages store design to maximize profitability. 
 However, the downside of this layout is the lack of aesthetics and
the “sterile and uninspiring” environment often associated with its
use. To counter this, Ebster recommends effective signage to guide
customers and create a “cognitive map” of the store. 

16
Entrance

17
 VISUAL
MERCHANDISING
1. End Cap and Drive Aisle

 End caps are the displays you see that stick out at the end of an aisle and
perpendicular to it, while drive aisles are the bins or mini aisles you see in
the middle of a major lane through the store. There are three major
strategies for how you stock these areas:

 To try and bring the shopper into an aisle containing products

complementing those on display (a popular video game leading
into the aisle for consoles, controllers, other games, etc.),
 To advertise a particular project that will require other items
throughout the store (this can be seen in arts & crafts and home
improvement stores frequently), or
 To offload any extra merchandise, you don't have room for or
are no longer carrying-- more of a tactical decision and less of a
strategic one (and should only really be done for significant
excess inventory)

18
 2. Tell a Story 

A story for your visual merchandising display helps both during the design
process and makes it easier for the customer to connect with the product.
The story can be specific to a single display or be made to flow through
the entire retail space by using a singular cohesive theme from display to
display. Begin the latter at the storefront with the main window or space
near the entrance.

19
 3. Specific Signage

The display may showcase the items perfectly, but if the signage fails, it
all fails. Avoid wordy signs — too much information gets ignored. Try the

20
five-second rule: You should be able to easily read the sign in five seconds
or less, absorbing its meaning without any confusion. If your message
needs to be longer, consider a series of signs incorporated aesthetically
into the overall visual merchandising theme. These signage indicate the
features, prices and location of the products.

Decathlon practices a very clear and crisp merchandise signage

method. Highlighting their low cost model, they prefer simple signage to
fancy ones.

The use of bright yellow, sky blue and white with black texts makes the
signage clear and visible from far.  One drawback Decathlon faces is the
absence of Directional signage.

Presence of such signage and boards at every aisle makes the self-service
shopping experience easier. 

4. Pricing Promotion

21
This one should also seem intuitive, that stores highlight low prices and
promotions they have on their products. More specifically, they tend to
draw a shopper into the store with high-value items advertised
through bright and distinct signage midway into the stores and aisles.
Then, they often offer a clearance section of heavily discounted items in
the back of the store or in another corner of it, to bring the customer as
far into the store as possible. They also practice a similar strategy for their
high-traffic items that drive many of the customers to the store in the first
place.

5. Window Display

Decathlon is in such a structure that It doesn’t have space for a window

display but manages to have an interactive space outside which helps in
drawing in the crowd. The window is well displayed and is changed
frequently.

22
 6. Trial Merchandising

A unique feature of the store is that it lets the customers to try and then
buy be it a cycle to a gym, it allows you to use the equipment or product
as a trial and then go ahead with the purchase if its upto the mark of the
custome.

7. Micro Merchandising

Draw attention to certain products in an otherwise mundane middle

section of a long aisle with micro merchandising. Accomplish this by using
a different type of shelving or fixture than the rest of the aisle or by
implementing a different color scheme. Customers who would normally

23
walk by the section without taking notice may be intrigued enough by the
change of scenery to stop for further investigation.

The store highly focused on the hiking shoes and had open displays and
other merchandise in various environments being highlighted.

8. Technology

Advances in technology have led to the use of visual devices such as flat-
screen televisions to broadcast in-store advertising messages. You can
use this technology to provide information about store services or special
sales and demonstrate new products. Take the concept even further by
offering kiosks with touch-screen computers that function as interactive
sales tools, allowing customers to learn more about products and services
and even place orders.

The store does include all this for a convenient shopping experience and
provides a complete story of all products to the customers.

Theme Display

24
Use theme displays as a method of cross-merchandising by building
displays around a special event or holiday. For example, Decathlon makes
the entire store based on their upcoming event. They highlight a sport and
focus on it for a period of time. Especially when there is some sort of
tournament being played.

9. Visibility

 Reduce your inventory losses by keeping shelves low enough to enable

good visibility. Take care to ensure that temporary store displays do not
inadvertently provide cover for shoplifters.

The store is very well lit making its visibility high and all products and
signages are clear and crisp not causing any sort of strain to the customer
and giving utmost comfort in all scenarios.

25
26
 STORE SET UP
1. Avoidance of Butt Brush

The expression may not sound boardroom appropriate, but the ‘butt-brush
effect,’ coined by esteemed retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, could be
significantly damaging your retail potential. This is especially true for
companies arranging their merchandise for the first time, or in an
unfamiliar space, such as a short-term lease. Underhill’s “butt-brush
effect” theorizes that female shoppers are far less likely to make a
purchase if they are “brushed” from behind, whether by staff, other
shoppers or by merchandise. Crucially, Underhill found that men and
women – but women especially - do not like to be touched from behind.
“They'll even move away from merchandise they're interested in to avoid
it,” he concludes. This action could be costing your retail venture revenue.
Thus Decathlon uses Wide rack display and mirror imaging of display so
as to provide personal space to each consumer.

27
 2. Decompression Zone

The first few feet of a store are often referred to as the decompression
zone, an entry area customer use to "decompress" or adjust to the new
space. 

  should be the store’s entry point and provides the shopper with a
vista view of the store in order to ground them in the overall shopping
experience

 It should be a minimum of 10–15 feet and should scale up based on

size of store

 It should be void of merchandise, signage or sales reps because as

shoppers are subconsciously in an acclimation process and prone to
overlook these elements

 Retailers should use lighting, floor textures and materials that

contrast with the outside environment to alert shoppers that they are
entering into a distinctly new environment

Outlet had a workshop area right outside the entrance where they were
conducting Table Tennis programs which were a major crowd puller. Also,
a CRM Table was placed at the entrance to facilitate the customers in case
any help was needed. 

28
 3. Navigation

May seem obvious, but stores spend a lot of time thinking about how easy
to make their stores to navigate.  They follow a free form retail layout,
whereby customers are encouraged to move freely through all the
fixtures, because there is usually no defined traffic pattern in the store.
The floor is usually divided into product category-based divisions with high
shelves present parallel on both sides of the floor. The entire store has
wide aisle spaces for cycling, skating and has courts and trial spaces all
around the main store. 

29
 4. Ambiance

 Lighting
All the stores stick to the logo theme of the colours: sky blue and
white. The use of these colours makes the store look bright and
spacious.
 Colour
It’s a low cost model and has bright lights and white light. It is very

30
 simple and basic. Helps showcase the products and highlights
everything equaly.
 Music
The R city mall store has a very soft and mild music being played in
the background. It is not fast or motivating.

5. Environmentally Friendly Store

  They use cotton carry bags which are biodegradable

 The store has implemented a rainwater harvesting system

 They sort out waste into degradable and non-degradable bins

SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
How does Decathlon’s RFID work?

31
 •RFID labels are placed on items during the manufacturing process.

•Encoded with a unique identification number which is stored in the

retailer’s database.

•The suppliers use RFID readers to record and track the shipping of
goods to the distribution centers.

•When the product arrives at the distribution center, the RFID tag is
read and recorded

Wirama Radar Technology

It complies with Decathlon requirements for high speed and high

quality printing as well as corporate and environmental social
responsibility.

•It can identify the location and direction of movement of a tagged

item in-store.

•It is able to distinguish whether an item is simply merchandised

near the exit or being stolen.

Benefits of RFID

Enables items to arrive in store shelf ready

•It makes the tracking process easier and faster

•Reduces risk of error

•RFID system is 5 times faster than former systems and

technologies.

Steps in Supply Chain Management

• Step 1: Strategic Sourcing Team Meeting

The agenda is to cover the scope and scale of the products that are
purchased, an understanding of the requirements and specifications
for needed products plus any new sourcing opportunities.

32
•Step 2: Assessing the Supply Market

This second step in the strategic sourcing process involves making

sure that all the potential sources of supply are identified and viable
mechanisms are in place for comparing their capabilities to those of
other potential suppliers.

• Step 3: Verification of supplier

Before beginning a relationship with a supplier, Decathlon ensures

the supplier’s production site meets their basic social requirements.

•Step 4: Implementation of the contractual agreement

Within their manufacturing and supply agreement, the supplier

commits to producing only in declared and verified sites and
territories. Any undeclared subcontracting is absolutely forbidden.

• Step 5: Supplier performance measurement and improvement

Once the supplier is active, their local teams accompany them to

ensure compliance with social, safety and HR matters, as well as
with standards related to quality, supply, production, etc. They seek
to build a long-term relationship.

33