Does Décathlon have the optimum STP to maximize its growth?

Extraits de l'étude de cas

[...] It also opened its own website in 2000. The greatest strength of Quechua is its ability to react quickly to changing fashions. Quechua achieves this by being close to consumers. Indeed, it delocalised its headquarters in 1999 and set up in Sallanches, at the bottom of the Mont Blanc. A monobrand Quechua store was also opened in Sallanches. This way, the designers, engineers, marketing staff and salesmen (who are all mountain sports' amateurs) can observe consumer behaviours and fashion trends on a daily basis. [...]

[...] Therefore the concept of Décat' is a good idea because it should stress the fact that Décathlon's brands are of high quality and aesthetic. Nevertheless, Décathlon has to go even further by offering specific products for those urban customers. Products should be designed according to the sportswear fashion and to the trends related to the sports often practised by urban citizens. -Create a new brand only for sportswear/fashionable products. The risk is that, becoming direct competitors of brands such as Nike, Adidas and so on, Décathlon might no longer be allowed to sell their products. [...]

[...] As far as its in-house brands are concerned, Décathlon segments the market into seven sport universes. Targeting Décathlon is a designer, producer and distributor of specialized sport articles dedicated to all sportsmen, from the beginner to the competitor. Décathlon targets the three segments at the same time through a very wide range of products and prices. It is very successful in meeting the needs of the ?family/leisure segment? thanks to a range of products that includes its in-house brands as well as famous manufactures' brands and covers all kinds of sports, all levels of practice, for men as well as women, old and young and at all prices. [...]

[...] Maybe Décathlon should go a bit further in promoting its brand image by showing it can also be fashionable and innovative. A campaign with famous sport stars could help to give the brand more credibility and to promote the quality and the technical specificities of the products. Despite the huge cost of such a campaign, we are convinced that the long term effects would be greatly profitable. Improve its brand image towards the 15-25 years-old consumers The big challenge for Décathlon is to reposition its image with young people. [...]

[...] Does Décathlon have the optimum STP to maximize its growth? The analysis French sports article market 1. General presentation The French sports article market is doing well, with good opportunities in the medium term. However it is a very competitive market and newcomers do not hesitate to implement aggressive strategies. In 2003, the French sports article market was the most important in the whole of Europe with a global turnover of 8.4 billion euros. There are 3800 stores specialised in sports and leisure articles in France: in 2003, their turnover amounted to 5.8 billion euros.The first five specialised stores (Décathlon, Intersport, Go Sport, Sport 2000, et Techniciens du Sport) alone make up for more than 80% of this turnover. [...]