French sporting brand Decathlon brings down its Customer Acquisition Cost with Pickcel Digital Signage

Decathlon is a multinational sports merchandise retailer. The company has an annual turnover of €11.4 billion. Spread across 60 countries, it has more than 2000 stores besides its online eCommerce site. There are at least 20 brands and 37 filed & extended patents under their belt. The company strives to include sustainability in its brand identity. In their own words, their products are 'smart, stylish & affordable.' Its consumers largely comprise the Millennials and GenZ.

In India alone, Decathlon has 200+ retail stores in various cities, including Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Goa. The client's existing product marketing strategy left little room for dynamic communication with the shoppers. For example, how to make a large-scale promotion of the launch of their cool mini football across all 200 stores?

The client took a decided bend towards in-store digital signage. The digital up-gradation meant there would be a requirement for cloud-based software to manage their screens. The client had decided to deploy 55 thin-screen' panels, video walls, and Android tablets at various Point of Purchase sites such as the stores' decompression zones, product aisles, product shelves, and on the body of the merchandise.

Considering Decathlon's rapid expansion in India, a cloud-based digital display solution was proposed as it would enable the client to add more screens to the network quickly. The client also sourced 50+ Android dual-band media players from Pickcel.

The client wanted to empower its store managers to run promotions independently and launch campaigns on their in-store displays. The Pickcel digital signage software provided an admin panel that warranted customizable user role creation. The client could assign sub-users and define their access, roles & rights to manage the screen content.

Besides product promotions, the client could also drive in-store infotainment with the help of a wide range of platform integrations & in-built applications like the weather app, social wall app, news apps, and interactive discount app. The Pickcel software also offered a product catalog solution for highlighting their vast collection of' sports merch.'

Once the digital signage solution was deployed, there was a visible change in the look and feel of the Decathlon stores. The client could create a playlist of product promotions for a wide range of athletic gear and sportswear. It could display its brand mission through high-quality videos. The stores witnessed 5X more engagement from the young shoppers who instantly connect with gadgets and enjoy the polished digital experience. The result was reflected in the Decathlons' product sales.