Decathlon SG unveils Data Lab to build a digital ecosystem and break silos

Decathlon has unveiled its Data Lab in Singapore to consolidate its efforts in the development of new digital services for Decathlon International as well as incubate data projects in collaboration with partners such as Sport Singapore, various research agencies, and schools. Located within the Kallang Alive district, the 700-square-metre lab sits at the intersection of a growing number of sporting and community facilities that is part of an effort to strengthen the district’s standing as an inclusive sports precinct, outlined in the Kallang Alive Masterplan.

Matthieu Blanchart, Decathlon Singapore's technical director, said during the launch event that the lab gathers Decathlon's digital teams from eCommerce, data, engineering, innovation, and customer satisfaction units. It also includes software developers and designers as well as the network and security teams and industry partners and students.

Projects and ideas initiated at Decathlon Data Lab will be tested in the adjacent Decathlon Singapore Lab store, and subsequently introduced to other Decathlon stores in Singapore and beyond. As a result of this dedicated facility and its close proximity to the flagship store, the Data Lab seeks to attract and bring about synergy among talents in the technology sector – welcoming partners and young talents to set up base and work together in the drive for innovation within the sporting and retail sectors.

"We want to build Decathlon's digital ecosystem for tomorrow and create a place where the team can develop new digital products and services to better satisfy customers. The Data Lab is designed to facilitate collaboration between teammates and break down communication barriers. We also want to create a place to attract new digital talents and to do so, you have to do something different to draw them," he explained.

Meanwhile, CEO of Decathlon Singapore, Stephan Veyret, also explained during his speech that the Data Lab was conceived to facilitate the co-design, co-creation, and co-development of the data and digital solutions of tomorrow. "We welcome external partners, be it government agencies, start-ups or even young talents who are hungry for real-world experience to pave the way for more technological breakthrough, focus on the invention and the improvement of the omni-retail ecosystem of the future," he said. 

Decathlon has also created software to calculate and track carbon dioxide emissions from the materials and production of its products to help with designing eco-products. Veyret said during the launch that the process starts with the design of its products which will be 100% eco-conceived by 2026, up from 30% today.

At the same time, the brand is partnering with SportSG to harness and analyse data to improve the way programmes are designed and inform the development of facilities to serve the needs of the local sport and fitness ecosystem. The partnership will leverage the respective expertise of Decathlon and SportSG to achieve a common goal of increasing the accessibility of sport and physical activity to the community. 

Decathlon worked together with workplace design firm Conexus Studio to conceptualise, design, and build the project in three months. The colourful graffiti design adorning the entrance and walls of the Data Lab encapsulates Decathlon’s energetic spirit that challenges norms while establishing new frontiers in sports, technology, and business.

An incubator area welcomes technology partners to collaborate and run on-ground trials at Singapore Lab and presents the opportunity to team up with young technology students hungry to gain real-world experience. More details on the programmes will be shared at a later time.

Meanwhile, Veyret said in a previous interview that Decathlon plans to expand its retail network locally to 37 locations in Singapore over the next few years. When asked why the bullish outlook despite the pivot to eCommerce and digital in recent years, he explained to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE during the launch of the Data Lab that Decathlon does not want to build a siloed business. 

"For me, there is no eCommerce or offline shopping. There's only the omnichannel journey," he said, citing that customers have varying purchasing habits such as buying online and returning in-store. Hence, they will leverage different types of services. He said:

I don't want to be in a business that is siloed. I want to move this organisation towards an ecosystem where each component fulfils its own needs.

In fact, Veyret believes physical retail is a fantastic opportunity for consumers to test products and discover their responses. "You'll be very surprised how many children cycle their first bicycles here in Decathlon," Veyret said.

How Decathlon has used data to improve customer experience

Decathlon currently has about 610,000 active members in Singapore. These are individuals who have registered and purchased from the brand in the past 12 months. The brand wanted to delve deeper and find out who these customers are and how best to make meaningful interactions with them. Decathlon adopts an RFM segmentation which comprises recency of visits, frequency of purchase, and monetary value, i.e. how much they spend. 

From there, a multi-level approach was built to understand its customers. For each customer, Decathlon defines the segment, predicted one-year turnover (also known as their one-year customer lifetime value), and risk of churn, among others. The segments and predictions are then made accessible to stakeholders on a fully-automated dashboard, also known as the CLV dashboard.

-Strategy one: Keep the best customers/high CLV customers satisfied

According to Decathlon, these members are likely to remain loyal to the brand. Hence, practical actions can be taken to keep them engaged. These include exclusive invitations to new product launches and new store openings.

-Strategy two: Increase the pool of best customers with lookalike

Decathlon wants to increase the pool of satisfied customers such it will have more loyal ones. According to Decathlon, 66% of its best customers are young parents. Hence, the brand is investing money, especially in family-related campaigns to acquire such personas.

-Strategy three: Tailor content to customer profiles

The brand will cross-sell based on a combination of primary and secondary sports, curate monthly sports newsletters, and engage parents with family content.

-Strategy four: Reactivate high churn risk members

This will be done by sending them gift cards. Decathlon has adopted an omnichannel approach since the establishment of its first experience store in Bedok in 2016. Since then, it has developed and tested a number of retail innovations with the opening of Decathlon Singapore Lab in 2019, including the RFID inventory robot which has been deployed to more than 120 stores worldwide, 100% self-checkout kiosks with cashless payments, and the RFID-based conveyor system that enables its two-hour islandwide eCommerce fulfillment activities.

In addition to this, Decathlon Singapore also developed and launched a localised Decathlon mobile app in 2020, which became instrumental in adapting quickly to the major shift in consumer needs and purchasing patterns owing to the global pandemic.

Another technological innovation that is currently in the proof of concept stage is the Retail AI Vision System that Decathlon is collaborating with A*STAR on. This came about because Decathlon wanted an additional data layer. Given that Singapore is a mono-season country, the brand relies on information such as sales data, individual store transactions, member transactions, and store traffic to fine-tune its products. It also wanted to find out how customers are testing the products and the type of items they pay attention to.

At the same time, Decathlon also wanted to transition retail employees to more value-added tasks, providing alerts and deploying them to key areas to assist customers. Lastly, the brand wanted to optimise manpower, sales, and merchandising performance over time. Thus, the Retail AI Vision System was developed. 

Retail employees will be alerted should customers fall down, thus prompting them to have a quick look to ensure the customers are safe. At the same time, the system will also show employees how many individuals are in the test areas and show who is paying attention to which particular products and who is interacting with them. When a consumer requires help, the AI system will be able to detect it based on his or her body language and alert the retail employee.  

Decathlon started in Singapore 10 years ago, and now has 700 employees and is currently recruiting for more than 80 positions, both full-time and part-time. Some of the roles listed on its job portal include UX researcher, junior data analyst, and eCommerce logistics operator.

In May, Decathlon launched its very first Sports Marketplace in Singapore, bringing together various exclusive products from brands including Garmin, Diadora, Pure Sports Nutrition, and MYPROTEIN. Hosted within Decathlon's website and app, the digital sports marketplace in Singapore leverages the brand's reputation as a trusted sporting brand. With 11 new brands onboard at launch, the Decathlon Marketplace is on track to add 2,000 more products by the end of the year to its current repertoire of 5,000 products from 60 sports.

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