Decathlon sees UK strength, will open more stores

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 7, 2020

Decathlon has announced plans to open more stores in the UK over the next 12 months after seeing a 10.3% increase in annual sales.

The sports retailer, which has been trading in the UK since 1999, made £227.6 million in gross sales in the UK in its last financial year, helped by a healthy surge in online sales, which were up 18.2% year-on-year.

But a £4.3 million investment in bricks-and-mortar, e-commerce and warehousing meant that the business fell to a £7.5 million pre-tax loss during the period.

Decathlon, a French company, said expansion will continue this and next year, with five new openings planned in UK cities including Aberdeen and Leeds.

The brand has more than 40 stores in the UK, including a new location in Ealing Broadway in West London.

Other recent investments included a modernised e-commerce solution and a new supply chain infrastructure to support its growing multichannel operations.

Alberto Bottan, chief financial officer and property director at Decathlon UK, commented: “Last year’s results show a trading period where turnover has strongly improved. And even if 2020 remains a very complicated year due to the Covid impact on retail, we are very confident in our ongoing performances and we aim to achieve profitability by the end of the year.”

He added: “There are three elements to highlight looking forward to 2020: first of all we are very proud to have fully preserved employment during this terrible period; secondly we observe a strong acceleration in terms of urban mobility and fitness categories, where we can offer some amazing products to our customers; finally we are increasing our omnichannel capacities through innovative solutions like delivery from store or very fast, local deliveries.”