For a long time now distributors have been eyeing the initiatives taken by Decathlon, admiring the work it does on its own brands and dreaming (yes, certainly...) of a time when they themselves will have such powerful private labels. For many years now Decathlon has sought to make its own brands genuine national brands - in direct competition with Nike or Adidas, for example. However, this perspective should be measured, keeping in mind that few brands have managed to flourish in the world of sports accessories ...
The latest Decathlon initiative puts the last touch to the work on these brands: its flagship store in Villeneuve d'Ascq has changed its merchandising by restructuring the traditional layout by type of sport. The space is now organized in boutiques: 16 of them (out of 18) are devoted to the Marques Passion (Passion Brands) of the retailer. Each boutique has its own checkout counter, and the checkout staff reinforce the sales and assistance teams. In this remodelled world national brands seem to be less in evidence.
One can thus easily imagine a corner presenting the entire Sephora line, all the Boots brands grouped in a special section of the store (as is the case when they are sold at Target or CVS in the USA) … where all the Carrefour products are grouped together in a shop-in-a-shop .... That will happen, eventually.
