Talk with Decathlon about "Price Hikes", "Abandoning the Poor" and "Becoming More Attractive" | Exclusive Interview

Author | Li Xiaoxia

Editor | Qiao Qian

Decathlon has always been prominently labeled as a "Paradise for the Broke", a "Sports Supermarket", and an "Affordable Light"... All these labels point to its high cost performance.

This year, things seem to be changing quietly. People have found that Decathlon, which has always been known for its affordability, has quietly raised its prices, raising suspicions that it may be abandoning the "broke" customers.

When 36Kr raised this issue with Liu Meng, the Brand Director of Decathlon Winter Sports in Northeast Asia, and Mou Yang, the General Manager of Decathlon Retail in Beijing, they said that in the past, Decathlon's entry-level products accounted for a relatively large proportion and the prices were more consumer-friendly. However, now the proportion of mid-to-high-end products has increased, which may result in some changes in prices.

In the past two years, the rapid growth of brands such as lululemon, Arc'teryx, and Salomon has shown the existence of users' demand for mid-to-high-end products. Under this trend, Decathlon has begun to tilt towards mid-to-high-end categories.

This trend has also extended to the winter sports category. This year, Decathlon has also begun to introduce more mid-to-high-end products in aspects such as snowboards and ski suits.

At the same time, in terms of design, Decathlon has also changed its past "straight man" image and has begun to become fashionable and good-looking. Taking the sportswear series launched this year as an example, it has even triggered a rush to buy.

The discussion about Decathlon being like lululemon is even more lively. Liu Meng told 36Kr that there is no such thing as one sports apparel brand being like another. Instead, everyone will meet the demand based on the style that customers like. Decathlon has conducted a test on a product line that it rarely touched in the past, so users will have a "different" perception.

No matter how it changes, cost performance is still what Decathlon insists on. In Mou Yang's words, Decathlon's mid-to-high-end products are not defined by price, but more by the product itself.

In addition to brand upgrading and increasing the layout of mid-to-high-end products, Decathlon is also improving its community capabilities. And this year, Decathlon has welcomed a new CMO, which may help Decathlon make up for its community work.

"The community influence of Decathlon may not have been so great before, and this is also where we can shine in the entire ecosystem in the future, making it more professional and representative of the public," Liu Meng said.

The following is the conversation between 36Kr and Decathlon:

Not a Price Increase, but an Enhancement of Mid-to-High-End Layout

36Kr: When it comes to Decathlon, many people feel that the prices have increased this year. Some even say that Decathlon has abandoned the "broke". Is this a natural occurrence with the brand upgrade?

Decathlon: Decathlon has always covered the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. It's just that in the past, the entry-level products accounted for a relatively large proportion and the prices were more affordable; while the proportion of mid-to-high-end products was only about 10% to 20%. With the increase in domestic consumers' demand for mid-to-high-end products, Decathlon has increased the proportion of these products. Because there are upgrades in performance, materials, and design, the cost is relatively higher, which may result in some changes in prices. There is no hard and violent price increase. It just means that there are more mid-to-high-end categories now. It's like before, the main products were cars priced at 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, and now there are suddenly more cars priced at 70,000 yuan. Even for a 70,000-yuan car, it is still the most cost-effective. Therefore, this year, when Decathlon launched the sportswear products, people found that they became more beautiful, and the prices are still very "attractive" among similar products.

Decathlon sportswear products

36Kr: Has a similar change occurred in the winter sports brand?

Decathlon: Yes. Decathlon includes the beginner-level 100 series, the intermediate-level 500 series, and the advanced-level 900 series. As mentioned earlier, Decathlon has always had product lines that match the intermediate and advanced sports levels. The consideration of the maturity of the sports market will affect the timing of our product introduction.

This year, Decathlon dares to make attempts to introduce more mid-to-high-end products. It is also because in recent years, China's ski market has increasingly favored users at the intermediate level. They actually give us more confidence that our products can better serve them in China. At the same time, we hope to get more feedback from mid-to-high-level users. We also hope to be more in line with the choices of Chinese young people in terms of functionality, wearing comfort, and trendiness. Although mid-to-high-end products already existed before, now we need to make them more prominent for customers to see.

36Kr: In the process of highlighting mid-to-high-end products, how to achieve differentiated competition?

Decathlon: In our past research, the customers' understanding of Decathlon's professionalism and professional ski products has a very high recognition rate. The mindset of making high-cost-performance products has always existed. It's just that at this point in time, we provide more professional-level products for users to choose from. Therefore, it is not that because the ski market has risen, we are willing to give Chinese customers a choice.

Like when we often communicate with customers, more feedback is that the professional performance and price of Decathlon products seem mismatched, which precisely shows that consumers recognize the high professionalism of Decathlon products. What is Decathlon's competitiveness? Thanks to our entire industry chain model, Decathlon has achieved an all-round coverage of design, production, logistics, and retail in China, providing users with more price-advantageous professional sports products, and this is also our core competitiveness.

Nowadays, consumers are becoming more and more rational in consumption, so for mid-to-high-end products, we do not define them by price, but more by the product itself.

36Kr: In the field of advanced products, does the brand recognition of Decathlon by users also have a certain foundation?

Decathlon: For ski products, every time we launch a mid-to-high-end hit product of the 500 series or 900 series, although the product's final sales volume is different from that of the beginner-level products, the professionalism of the product can definitely resonate within the ski circle.

Making Up for the "Community" Work

36Kr: This year, we have also welcomed a new CMO. With the brand renewal, will there be any changes in the major marketing direction?

Decathlon: We had the idea of brand upgrading first, and then made strategic deployments, including the introduction of talents, internal training, and promotion. We still prefer word-of-mouth publicity and are not likely to do advertisements or celebrity endorsements. We prefer to spend more on internal training, so that we can give back more quality services to consumers.

Basically, all our marketing investments are put into activity experiences. For example, Decathlon Beijing may hold at least 8 to 10 activities with more than 100 people a year. These activities are not for profit as the ultimate goal, but for the diverse sports experience of customers as the ultimate goal. We hope to do marketing more through the way of sports experience, rather than just in a pure advertising marketing output way.

36Kr: With the change of the new CMO, do you also think that Decathlon may have been lacking in marketing before?

Decathlon: We expect to have some core focus points based on the Chinese market, such as continuously exploring paths that both highlight Decathlon's characteristics and are loved by consumers in community organization and social media construction. Therefore, for such considerations, some corresponding professional talents will be matched.

Decathlon is not inclined to make the publicity big through a spokesperson or other advertisements, but wants to make the connection with users stronger, and then better convey Decathlon's professionalism to the people who want to convey it, and truly establish a connection with users through sports. These all need to be slowly collided.

36Kr: It feels that Decathlon is quite suitable for doing community.

Decathlon: Decathlon's community operation has already reached a certain scale. Our advantage lies in the abundance of sports. Taking Decathlon Beijing as an example, there may be multiple communities for one sport. For example, the cycling community has more than 10,000 users. We will regularly organize activities, competitions, and experiences, and also link different sports within the community. The activities are operated by our internal employees who love sports and have relevant sports experience.

The community influence of Decathlon may not have been so great before, and this is also where we can shine in the entire ecosystem in the future, making it more professional and representative of the public. We are also exploring a more professional and efficient operation mode to turn this from an added value into a part of our core ecosystem.

36Kr: One change for Decathlon Beijing this year is that it has moved from outside the Fifth Ring Road to inside the Second Ring Road. Will the store opening cost also increase?

Decathlon: In the past, we actually did not enter some popular business districts or shopping malls. On the one hand, it was due to our own brand positioning, and on the other hand, it was also due to the consideration of cost calculation.

Now we are increasingly opening stores in better business districts, also hoping to be rooted in more sports people, changing from "we wait for customers to come" to "we come to you". You can see the newly opened stores in Chongwenmen, Wukesong, Heshenghui, etc., which are completely different from the previous brand concept of a "professional sports supermarket".

Although users see that we are going to better business districts, we will not transfer these values to the prices, but achieve them through other more efficient operations. For example, the original store may have an area of 2,000, 3,000 or even 5,000 square meters. Now, through a new display method, we may be able to meet the needs of different users with more core products in a store of about 1,000 square meters. We will open more small and beautiful stores through the combination of product types, and at the same time be rooted in more good areas. In the next few years, we will continue this store opening rhythm.

Decathlon store

36Kr: Many brands have also begun to go to the sinking market to find opportunities. What about Decathlon?

Decathlon: In fact, Decathlon tried to open stores in second-tier, third-tier, and even fourth-tier cities a long time ago. We often say that we do many things 5 seconds earlier than the market. It's just that based on Decathlon's business format and business model, we find that what we are doing now is more in line with the current market, because the mature people of sports consumption are still more concentrated in high-tier cities.

From a "Straight Man's Paradise" to a "Women's Paradise"

36Kr: Decathlon is called a "Straight Man's Paradise", but now it seems that the number of female users is also increasing?

Decathlon: The number of female users is indeed increasing, and the current male-female ratio is tending to be average. But in some segmented tracks, the gender difference will be relatively large. In the past two years, in the two major sports fields of surfing and skiing, the consumption of female users is still growing at a fast pace. In the ski category, in fact, the ratio of female to male is basically average.

36Kr: The concentration of Decathlon on Xiaohongshu is getting higher and higher.

Decathlon: We actually don't know very clearly why a product suddenly becomes popular. When we open the store in the morning, suddenly many young people come and empty the shelves. Sometimes we are educated by the market, but from one side, it can also confirm that our product design has been greatly improved, and young people are also willing to buy it.

People will see products in Decathlon that are more in line with our aesthetic attributes. For example, this year, a penguin hat that we launched became popular, and it was developed locally. Many Decathlon users are young women, especially those who have just graduated from university and are in the first few years of work. This part is often the main force of social media. With a casual call, maybe 100 people around will come. This is also what was just mentioned. In terms of content marketing, what we are more looking forward to is the radiation of this private domain traffic, rather than the traditional advertising placement.

36Kr: What characteristics have the ski sports shown in the past two years?

Decathlon: According to the product line, the growth nationwide last year, the growth rate of snowboards exceeded that of skis. For example, the sales of snowboard clothing exceeded that of ski clothing for the first time, reaching a twofold growth, and the growth of youth snowboard sales reached 108%.

From the perspective of the crowd, 70% of the snowboard users are, and among the beginner users, the majority are women, and women have a very strong purchasing power. In Europe, the proportion of the entire snowboard market users may not exceed 10%, which is a difference. Decathlon's sales data shows that in the 2023 - 2024 ski season alone, China's snowboard market share ranks first in the world.

36Kr: When did the inflection point of the consumption trend that snowboards exceed skis occur, and what factors are behind this trend?

Decathlon: From the perspective of the sports market, the consumption inflection point in China has shown this trend one or two years before the epidemic. I went snowboarding around 2014. At that time, most people were still skiing, and snowboard enthusiasts were mostly a group of very young people who did not want to be the same as others. Later, people gradually accepted some overseas sports cultures, and more people began to try snowboarding.

In addition, more people choosing snowboarding also has a great relationship with the special conditions of the ski resorts. Most of the ski resorts in China are artificial ski resorts. The hardness of the snow made by the ski resorts is slightly harder than that of natural snow, and the ski runs are relatively not that long. The experience of the public skiing is relatively not that good. In this case, snowboards actually have stronger maneuverability. In the entire skiing process, they can glide smoothly and carve, and the entertainment nature is also greater. Therefore, more and more people slowly shift from skis to snowboards.

But the real explosion actually occurred after the Winter Olympics, which promoted more people to return to ice and snow sports. When many beginner enthusiasts began to experience skiing, they were driven by many great gods and idol images to try the cooler sport of snowboarding.

36Kr: Has Decathlon's business made corresponding adjustments accordingly?

Decathlon: Our business structure has undergone a relatively large change after the Winter Olympics. Before, skis were the dominant. For Decathlon internally, one of the biggest reasons for this change is that we have increased our investment in snowboard products. Previously, in the entire global product line, skis were the main products, but in the past few years, we have been continuously feeding back the characteristics of the Chinese market, and in the past two years, we have launched many mid-to-high-end snowboard products.

36Kr: Based on your perception, what trends will the ski sports have in the future?

Decathlon: The ratio of snowboards to skis will be more average. Second, the current main age group of ski