Decathlon to partner with innovative marketing scale up

Omnia Retail, a pricing and online marketing automation software provider, has signed up Europe’s largest sports retailer, Decathlon, following the launch of its London office in September.

The contract comes following a hugely successful project between Omnia Retail and Decathlon in the Netherlands, which saw the latter’s conversion rate increase by 80 per cent.

Decathlon initially recognised a need for external support in 2016, to ensure that ‘value-for-money’ remained central to its pricing proposition as it scaled up, whilst maintaining profit margins. It also wanted to fully exploit the potential of Google Shopping and reduce the operational resource spent on pricing and marketing.

Omnia Retail was brought on board to provide intelligent software and tools to automate all operations in the Netherlands related to pricing and marketing. This new strategy aimed to give the sports retailer more time to focus on broader expansion plans and generated some impressive results.

The project freed up 20 hours per month in operational capacity alongside increasing sales conversion rates by 80 per cent for dynamically priced Decathlon products. The company also saw its year-on-year revenue in Google Shopping grow from 50 per cent to 900 per cent, while simultaneously increasing the return on advertising spend by 50 per cent. In addition to online sales, this omnichannel pricing and marketing strategy also created a 90 per cent boost for in-store revenues caused directly by Google Shopping.

Following successful implementation, the retailer has selected Omnia to provide support for its UK operations. Omnia will work with Decathlon UK to optimise feeds to Google Shopping and other marketing channels based upon internal variables – such as omnichannel conversion rates - and external factors such as competitor pricing.

Decathlon, whose robust expansion plans include opening more than 300 UK stores over the next ten years, aims to make sport accessible to all with its vast range of high-quality yet fairly-priced goods and equipment. Part of Decathlon’s global growth has been its omnichannel approach; selling both online and in-store but with particular focus on ensuring that its bricks-and-mortar sites offer a ‘destination’ for excellent customer service.

Laurens Spiele, e-commerce director at Decathlon, said: “Following a tremendously successful implementation in the Netherlands, we’re thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Omnia to the highly-competitive UK market. Their product-focused and data-driven omnichannel approach allowed us to reach our ambitious growth goals in a highly targeted way, far exceeding our expectations on both pricing and marketing strategy.”

Sander Roose, CEO of Omnia Retail, added: “Today’s retail market is highly dynamic and competitive, so it’s vital that brands stay ahead of the pack and incorporate automation into their pricing and marketing strategy. Considering we recently expanded our own business to the UK, it made perfect sense to work with Decathlon once again to deliver an equally effective project for the UK market. We’ve loved working with the team to drive profits, boost brand loyalty and improve their operations, and we’re incredibly excited to do it all again.”