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The Decathlon store in New Town Plaza Phase III, Sha Tin. Photo: Handout

Decathlon Hong Kong sets sights on ‘sports friendly’ New Territories as it opens Sha Tin and Ma On Shan branches

  • Sha Tin is a really sports friendly neighbourhood, says Decathlon co-CEO Hugo Jehlen
  • We are trying to create as many services as relevant to make shopping more convenient, executives say
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Hong Kong was merely considered a pilot scheme for Decathlon, but four years later it finds itself opening branches six and seven, with an eighth already in the works.

The French sports retailer is not the first to head north, its decentralisation driven primarily by the Island’s notoriously high rents. Sha Tin district, and much of New Territories, has also conveniently seen a rise in demand for health and wellness.

Ahead of the opening of its Sha Tin store in New Town Plaza’s Phase III last week, Decathlon Hong Kong’s commanders-in-chief explained why New Territories was next.

“We try to be where our users and customers need us. It’s obvious that Sha Tin is a really sports friendly neighbourhood – you can hike, run, cycle, you have the [Shing Mun] river, basketball courts,” said Decathlon co-CEO Hugo Jehlen.

Having simultaneously launched its Mong Kok and Causeway Bay stores in 2017, there are also Decathlons in Tseung Kwan O, Kowloon Bay and Central, plus a Tuen Mun site expected in the summer.
Decathlon Hong Kong co-CEOs Lisa Noraz and Hugo Jehlen at the soft opening of their new store in New Town Plaza. Photo: Felix Wong
“It still feels like yesterday that we opened the two stores [in Mong Kok and Causeway Bay],” said co-CEO Lisa Noraz. These days the pair are welcoming the likes of legendary cyclist and Sha Tin native Wong Kam-po to kick-start the store’s bike machine record.

“Now we’re offering shopping on the app, but we also try to create as many services as relevant to make shopping more convenient. From pickup points and lockers launched last month – more than 200 of them – to our ‘click and collect’ concept store, to more traditional stores with more interaction between our team and users. We’re really happy to have done so much in such a short time.”

The pair are confident that they can sustain the business for many years to come. The Tseung Kwan O megastore is its biggest at 72,000 sq ft and Ma On Shan the smallest at 1,500 sq ft. The stores in Sha Tin (7,600 sq ft), Mong Kok (25,000 sq ft), Kowloon Bay (4,000 sq ft), Central (8,500 sq ft) and Causeway Bay (8,000 sq ft) lie in between.

Hong Kong cycling legend Wong Kam-po completes the in-store cycling challenge in New Town Plaza. Photo: Handout

“Of course, our stores are smaller than the standard that you find in Europe. What we try to do is build best with the space we have – to be really precise in our selection and to fit and find solutions to the locals’ needs,” Jehlen said.

As Decathlon strategically moves its way up to the peninsula, customers and competing independent retailers can expect more store set-ups in its major shopping complexes. The Hong Kong project is distinct from Decathlon’s overseas ventures, which usually have more room to play.

Hong Kong was really meant to be a pilot case for many changes, Noraz said. Traditionally, Decathlon is really bricks-and-mortar retail with other channels.

 

“Instead of having a store and [e-commerce] team, we built an organisation with sports teams. Inside each of which we have a leader for sport in Hong Kong, who manages their squad business, growth and user base in every channel. It makes them very online-offline and they understand the market to better cater to the needs,” she said.

Pandemic or not, Decathlon Hong Kong already had its sights on being a adaptable retailer. “We knew from the concept that existed for 40 years in Europe and other countries that we had to make it very relevant for Hong Kong,” Noraz said. “It had to be a mix between store interaction and touching the products.

“What Covid-19 or the previous protests did was make us go a bit faster on those solutions, reprioritize and accelerate. If one of our options is not relevant in the future, we’ll just close it and test another one, which is fine.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Decathlon heads north for the long run
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