The merrier, the better?
Decathlon first started as a wholesaler. Little by little, the French company started to create its brands and acquire others. In the process, Decathlon slowly tried to reduce its competitors’ share from its offering.
Therefore, we see that none of the top 3 brands of sportswear, i.e., Nike, Adidas, and Puma, are among the top 10 brands represented at Decathlon.
Moreover, one of Decathlon‘s characteristics is to offer one brand per type of sport.
According to Retviews data, we see that the most represented brands within Decathlon’s broad portfolio are: Domyos, Quechua, and Kalenji, representing Fitness, Outdoor Sports, and Running, respectively.
Decathlon has more than 86 sports in its international portfolio and 70 in France. One of the sports brands’ goal is to offer more than 100 sports to its customers by the mid-2020s.
Although it is part of Decathlon’s strategy to remove its competitors’ products from its portfolio gradually, the French sports company increased its offering of Adidas products between 2019 and 2020, accounting today for 3.2% of the French brand assortment. In comparison, the top three brands of Decathlon saw their share of products reduced. What could justify the brand’s decision to increase its offering in competitors’ products?