The price has risen!
Decathlon has quietly transformed, and with the change of the LOGO, it will no longer be a "poor ghost paradise"!
The sports industry that once "wanted to reflect every penny saved in the price tag" was clear, "backstabbed" consumers, 1,700 stores were transformed, and the ambition of "consumption upgrading" was clearly revealed.
"Decathlon in case of indecision", with its high cost performance, Decathlon has captured a lot of loyal users in China.
Last year's relevant data showed that Decathlon's repurchase rate reached 70%, that is, old customers are the support of their performance, contributing 75% of the total performance.
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As a result, Decathlon has thousands of sports stores around the world, reaching an annual revenue of nearly 100 billion yuan.
"Poor Ghost Paradise", "Good Quality and Low Price", "Rest Assured", "Straight Man Paradise", etc., are all labels put on it by old customers, however, this year, old users are a little blind.
They found that Decathlon seems to have changed, the price is not so affordable, not only the price of a single product is much higher, but the proportion of high-priced goods is also getting higher and higher.
Many consumers have sighed: "The more you buy, the more expensive it is!"
Decathlon is a special presence in the sporting goods industry, pursuing "the lowest gross profit margin" and "small profits but quick turnover", and its sales have hit a new high of 15.4 billion euros in the context of cold sales of sporting goods in 2022.
For a long time, Decathlon has regarded "slamming the door" as the key to its operation, giving people the feeling of a cheap market, so that everyone ignores that it was born in the second largest consortium in France.
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Behind Decathlon is the French family of Mourier, a super family with a history of 100 years, farming for generations, breaking the "rich for no more than three generations".
In 1900, a small textile factory was the beginning of the family's business, and after two world wars, it gradually developed into retail, sporting goods, decorative building materials, chain restaurants and other fields.
At present, there are more than 1,000 family members, more than 500,000 employees, and an annual turnover of more than 70 billion euros.
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The family's low-key and simple characteristics are also reflected in their operation, with "high cost performance", "many options" and "high-quality service", the family's retail enterprise Auchan has become a French retail giant.
In the 70s of the last century, with the development of the economy and the popularity of sports, in an Auchan supermarket in the northern French city of Lille, "Decathlon" was born.
Decathlon is built on the experience and wisdom of the family's retail business.
It has the option of bringing together all age groups and all sports-related equipment and operating it through self-service sales.
It is cost-effective: "It does not try to make customers spend one-time and large amounts, but guides and cultivates customers' consumption outlook and exercise habits, and develops consumers' habits of buying at Decathlon." ”
It serves well: "let customers get the pleasure of purchasing", "let customers experience the fun of sports".
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In order to allow customers to have a better shopping experience, Decathlon's product display adopts "scene-based" display, displaying related products in virtual different sports scenes.
For example, let swimming-related products such as mobile phone waterproof bags and swimming goggles be displayed in the swimming scene.
Decathlon also applied the idea of retail to the sales of sporting goods, for example, snacks, beverages and other high-volume, low-priced items that customers may buy casually are all placed in the checkout channel to increase exposure and purchase convenience.
In addition, the division of products according to the level of sports skills of consumers, such as "beginners", "regular exercisers" and "professional athletes", also brings great convenience to consumers.
Of course, "high cost performance" is the key to winning a large share of the Chinese market, for example, a pair of men's running shoes may only be 1/10 of the price of brands such as Adi, but the function can reach the standard of adequacy.
This is due to its long-standing minimum profit strategy and its business model integrating R&D, design, production, logistics and retail.
"Cost savings are considered at every step", and every penny saved is "reflected in the price tag".
Decathlon is thinking about how to sell goods at the lowest possible price. ”
In the sporting goods industry, Decathlon is indeed a clear stream, which is the main reason why consumers think of "Decathlon" for the first time when they encounter difficulties in choosing.
However, Decathlon, which is known as the "Paradise for Poor Ghosts" recently, has quietly raised its value.
An old user of Decathlon found that the performance of Decathlon's price increase is becoming more and more obvious, especially in outdoor products.
The two outdoor hiking shoes she bought in 2022 have risen from 299 and 349 yuan to 399 and 349 yuan respectively, and there is no discount.
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In fact, Decathlon's CEO has also publicly expressed his willingness to upgrade the brand: "In 2023, the world is facing unprecedented challenges, and for the sake of long-term development in the future, Decathlon will upgrade its brand."
"Let the miracle of sports move people" is the new brand tenet launched by Decathlon in March this year, which is accompanied by a complete set of brand upgrade plans, such as the "North Star" strategy and the new logo of the "Track" logo.
In this strategy, the phrase "minimalism is the highest pursuit" is intriguing.
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"The 80 brands are too fragmented and have a lot of duplication. ”
Previously, Decathlon had a whopping 80 brands, and this streamlining action has sorted out and optimized them into 9 major sports categories.
Among them, the four major professional brands have also carried out a bold transformation and moved forward in a more professional direction.
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The content changes, the image must also change, and the replacement of the LOGO as a representative image is imperative.
On March 12, Decathlon announced the renewal of its global brand, the release of a new logo in the shape of royal blue "track", and the store logo changed from a blue signboard to a dark gray background, marking the official transformation of Decathlon's image.
"We need to diversify our brand image, and we want to be seen no longer as a retailer, but as a professional sports brand. ”
From a mass retail brand to a professional sports brand, this is a big leap, and it also means that Decathlon will no longer be "affordable".
In fact, Decathlon has long been considering high-end layout.
Decathlon's stores not only sell their own brands, but also sell some high-end sports brands as distributors, such as Yonex, the benchmark in badminton, ASICS, the king of running shoes, and the NBA in basketball......
This inclusivity not only gives customers more choices, but also makes their customer base more receptive to high unit prices.
It has to be said that this kind of advanced layout, like the first move in Go, is often the key to the success or failure of a game.
When positioning itself as a "sports retail", Decathlon has attracted many high-net-worth customers for itself by introducing high-end brands to settle in.
With these high-spending customers to lay the foundation, Decathlon's transformation is much easier.
Some people say: "Poor Ghost Paradise" is popular due to consumption downgrade, but it is even more difficult to upgrade consumption.
This point may not be applicable to Decathlon, just because Decathlon's upgrading and transformation is not a rootless tree, in addition to the previous inclusive layout and the accumulation of high unit price customer groups, Decathlon has also made a lot of preparations for the transformation.
First of all, the transformation does not mean that Decathlon has given up the parity advantage.
Recently, Decathlon's brand upgrade will be gradually promoted in 1,700 stores around the world, and high-end products of its own brand will replace a large part of the imported brands.
In addition to the price adjustment of more professional products of private brands, after improving their professionalism and technological content, a considerable number of goods maintain their original price advantages.
In other words, Decathlon wants to walk on two legs, give customers more choices, and provide not only cost-effective products, but also highly professional products.
The second is to invest in professional R&D, and use more professional and higher quality to support the success of the new specialty.
For example, in April this year, Decathlon outdoor products were released, focusing on five "insiders" that are enough for consumers to pay: design specialization, process refinement, innovation and daily life, material ecology, and professional cooperation.
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In other words, Decathlon is to drive the price upgrade with professional upgrades.
In the face of many competitive pressures such as rising raw material prices, Decathlon's "backstabbing consumers" is still relatively acceptable.
In comparison, Adidas, which backstabs consumers in terms of quality, is a bit difficult to let go.
While Decathlon's consumption upgrade is hotly discussed, Adidas is also facing a storm of "backstabbing" consumers.
The problem that Adidas is facing is precisely what Decathlon is upgrading: reduced quality and inferior materials.
Adidas, as a global high-end sports brand, originally had a high degree of trust in the hearts of consumers, and has always had the advantage of quality and design, but recently he has disappointed many consumers.
Many consumers have reported that there are quality problems in the Adidas products they purchase, including: the use of inferior materials, resulting in a short service life and poor user experience.
What's even more chilling for consumers is that when they respond to problems, they don't get the attention they deserve.
In the face of consumer complaints, Adidas not only did not actively deal with the problem, but also blindly adopted the practice of avoiding and denying it.
Consumers believe that this is because the brand does not care about and respect consumers, and for a while, Adidas's trust and goodwill in the hearts of consumers have been greatly hit.
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This problem is also due to the rising prices of raw materials, fierce market competition, and high inventory pressure, and Adidas does not want to give up high profits and lose market share, so it is a dizzy move.
In addition, negative news such as "the lowest price promotion involves fraud", "backstabbing consumers", and "customer service refusal to refund the price difference" are also endless.
Decathlon, which is facing the same problem, has taken price increases when dealing with the problem, and brands such as Anta and Nike have also taken price increase measures, which can be said to be forced by the situation.
There is an iron law in this world: the only constant is change itself.
Therefore, although Decathlon is labeled as a "poor ghost paradise", it does not mean that he can never change, after all, change is the way to survive and develop.
I believe that consumers can also accept changes, Decathlon already has a high unit price customer base, and it is not difficult to maintain the previous purchase inertia after recognizing the professional upgrading of Decathlon's products.
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Customers who did not have the habit of high unit price consumption before, with the improvement of consumption power or the improvement of sports professionalism, will also choose more professional high unit price products.
It doesn't matter if you don't accept customers with high unit prices, Decathlon has not completely given up on cost-effective products, in the beginner series, they can find products that suit them.
Decathlon's consumption upgrading and transformation is a prepared battle, and consumers will gradually accept Decathlon's backstab after realizing the changes.
Perhaps, Decathlon will no longer be a "paradise for the poor", but this transformation will undoubtedly broaden his customer base and give him a lot of room to grow.
At the same time, the increase in price has not made Decathlon lose its cost-effective essence, after all, the price is increasing at the same time, the performance is also improving.
Although the price is not cheap, it is good, and it is still the "straight man paradise".
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Resources:
People of the Day: "Decathlon with Rising Prices, Betrayal of Workers"
Stone Business Review: "With "Minimum Profit" as a Belief, How Decathlon Became a Sports Giant
Hipsters: Decathlon, the "Poor Ghost Paradise", is becoming a "shopping paradise" for more people
Author: Sun Nier
Editor: Ichiyigi