Global sports retailer Decathlon plans to invest €100 million in India over the next five years in a bid to expand its store network, supply chain and local sourcing. The company also aims to double its revenues in the next three-five years. This comes at a time when sports goods segment has been witnessing strong growth on the back of fast-evolving sporting culture in the country.

The company, which operates in India under the single-brand retail FDI policy, currently operates 127 stores in 50 cities. India is among the top 10 international markets for the French sports retailer.

Sankar Chatterjee, Chief Executive Officer, Decathlon India, told businessline, “We have made significant investments in the country in the past few years. We are now ramping this up with plans to invest €100 million in the next five years. This will go into store footprint expansion to 190 stores in 90 cities with a strong focus on tier-2 and -3 markets. At the same time, we are also heavily investing on our own site and app to expand our reach through digital channels. We are also investing on strengthening our supply chain, logistics and last-mile delievery capabilities. Part of these investments will also go in expanding local manufacturing with a focus on ‘Make-in-India’.”

Ramping up

He added that the company is looking to open 10-15 new stores every year. “We will open six-eight more stores this year. We are looking at various sizes besides large-format stores,” Chatterjee added. The company said nearly 68 per cent of the products sold at Decathlon stores in the country are made in India. “We now plan to ramp this upto 85 per cent by 2026,” he added.

Talking about revenue growth, Chatterjee said, “In 2024, we recorded revenues of a little less than half-a-billion euros. We now hope to double the size of the revenues over the next three-five years. There are definitely headwinds that are visible especially due to inflationary pressures in the retail sector and we are focusing on supply chain efficiencies to counter these. We saw single-digit growth in 2024. But with the adoption of sporting culture in the country, we are bullish on the long-term growth prospects of the sports products market in India as it emerges a sporting powerhouse.”

Nearly 11-12 per cent of the company’s sales now come from the online channels. Chatterjee said the company has large warehouses and also small hubs attached to its stores to focus on e-commerce order fulfilment, which is being further strengthened. “In seven cities, we already have capabilities to deliver products the next day. With the growth of quick-commerce platforms, we are also looking at focusing on faster deliveries for certain range of products,” he explained.