Decathlon, more and faster innovation at the point of sale
Tim Liu, IT Manager Decathlon International
Thanks to Openbravo, we were able to lighten our infrastructure in stores by eliminating the need for servers on-site. We are now able to roll out changes in a way that saves much time and cost. Furthermore, with the support and service provided by Openbravo, we moved to the cloud solution which will fit our cloud strategy and will generate more benefits on costs and deployment from a long-term perspective.
Making sport accessible to everyone
Decathlon is today one of the world’s leading sporting goods retailers, with over 1,400 stores in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1976 in Lille, France, Decathlon today sells products catering to more than 100 sports. The company’s unique value proposition is rooted in its capacity to design, manufacture and sell its own products belonging to more than 20 Decathlon brands dedicated to specific sports, including Quechua and BTWIN. Innovation is central to Decathlon’s continuous drive to improve the experience of enthusiasts’ around the world and make sports accessible for all.
Challenges
From B2B to B2C Retail in India
After focusing on B2B initially, Decathlon started targeting B2C stores in India after the company won government approval for 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail in 2013 — the first sporting goods company to obtain this approval.
As a result, Decathlon launched an ambitious growth plan to build up an extensive physical store network across India in a 5-year timeframe, and thus looked for a software solution which was ready to support this expansion plan.
Tim Liu, IT Manager Decathlon International
With the efficient integration to Decathlon information systems and new technologies like RFID, mobile payments, and the use of Openbravo Web POS in Decathlon stores really helps our staff in terms of check-out process efficiency and reduces time spent on staff training. Thanks to its B/S architecture, it creates many opportunities to re-think the check-out process in stores. We believe this innovative solution will help us with the digital transformation of our business.
Solution
India: Technology put to the Test
Decathlon already put its trust in Openbravo software more than 5 years ago in India, using the Openbravo Java POS, Openbravo’s former POS solution built in a client/server architecture. A shift to B2C, followed by a short and successful pilot phase, led the company to update its solution to the Openbravo Web POS.
This full web-based, cloud-ready and mobile-enabled POS solution offered Decathlon comprehensive POS functionality built on top of a highly flexible and easily adaptable technology platform. Today, the Openbravo Web POS is used in nearly all 60 of its stores across India.
Expansion into other countries
Following the positive experience in India, Openbravo was subjected to a strict internal verification process and officially certified by Decathlon as a POS solution that could be adopted in other countries.
Apart of India, Openbravo is now supporting POS operations in China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia, and the list continues to grow.
Openbravo provides Decathlon with a single solution that can be integrated seamlessly with corporate systems and quickly and easily deployed and adapted to support the different country-specific needs, from fiscal regulations to innovative technologies like RFID, mobile payments or self-checkout terminals.
Results
Faster innovation at the point of sale for a differentiated in-store shopping experience
Openbravo’s flexibility has helped Decathlon to introduce new innovations at the point of sale much faster, thus reducing the time needed to adopt new technologies such as RFID, mobile payments with Alipay and WeChat integration (Decathlon China), and a completely new self-checkout solution that was launched in less than 3 months. Today, Decathlon customers enjoy a faster and more convenient shopping experience that ultimately helps boost their satisfaction and loyalty.
Out-of-the-box Openbravo mobile POS capabilities open up additional possibilities for enhanced in-store customer service, such as assisting customers from anywhere in the store or the reduction of waiting times at the terminal. Openbravo POS is a responsive web-based mobile solution that automatically adapts to the device size and offers the same functionality from mobile devices than from a traditional desktop POS terminal.
Simplified multi-store IT management and cloud readiness
Openbravo’s web POS has helped to dramatically simplify the IT infrastructure required for the stores, enabling faster preparation for new store openings and reducing the total effort and cost for daily store maintenance. Updates for products and prices can be made centrally and applied across all stores in a matter of minutes; other changes or new processes can also be deployed faster across locations.
Store performance is guaranteed thanks to the strong offline capabilities of the Openbravo solution, which ensures uninterrupted in-store sales, even in the case of a temporary loss of connectivity. Openbravo’s architecture also allows Decathlon to move forward in its transition to the cloud, which is another strategic objective for the company.