The Moneris Merchant Spotlight: Decathlon

The Moneris^® Merchant Spotlight Series is dedicated to highlighting Canadian businesses thriving amidst an ever-changing landscape. Featuring exclusive interviews, learn more about the entrepreneurs behind the scenes, their stories of how they got their businesses off the ground, what it really takes to achieve success, and what the next steps could look like for a resilient future.
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Get the scoop on Decathlon. 

• Who: Marie-Lou Blais, Director of Marketing and Communications
• Where: Across Canada 
• Product: Consumer Insights – Location Data, Customer Acquisition & Loyalty

Background

Established in 1976, Decathlon started as a family-run business in France and has since expanded into a global brand with store locations in over 70 countries worldwide. The retailer is dedicated to ensuring sports and outdoor activities are accessible to all by designing, distributing and manufacturing affordable, quality clothing and equipment. Decathlon opened their first Canadian location in Brossard, Quebec in 2018, with locations now open coast to coast.

“We are a very agile and ambitious company with strong social values. And we are built on the foundation of making sports accessible for all. So, when Decathlon is looking to expand into a different country, we try to adapt to the country and find the right balance between the brand and the population’s needs.”

-Marie-Lou Blais, Director of Marketing and Communications of Decathlon in Canada

Challenge

As a newer brand in the Canadian market, Decathlon is eager to better understand their consumer preferences to help inform future strategies and support its continued expansion across the country. According to Marie-Lou Blais, Director of Marketing and Communications at Decathlon in Canada, retail stores are at the core of their business. Access to store-level data is crucial for Decathlon, as it enables their team to make informed decisions on business development initiatives. From a marketing and advertising standpoint, this data also plays a key role in shaping brand awareness strategies and distinguishing the company from its competitors.

“We need to know where to expand, where we have a population of people who, for example, might shop with us on the ecommerce side and when they come to our stores, and we need to know about the behaviour of repeat buyers, new customers and so on,” she said. “We’re still relatively small, and we’re not very ‘loud’ in our marketing and advertising. So, it’s important for us to understand if how we’re expanding our business is, in turn, creating new customers.”

To address these needs, Decathlon started working with Moneris to obtain store-level location data in 2021, and later, customer acquisition and loyalty reports.

What did the Data Reveal?

With access to Moneris’ location data, Marie-Lou and her team gained valuable insights on their customer’s spending behaviours across each store location. This validated key business decisions regarding the implementation of future store openings across Canada. “The location reports gave us visibility on the catchment areas of our stores, which was important to us. We wanted to make sure that when we establish a store location, we can reach the customer and be able to see the evolution of their business with us and how we market our brand to them moving forward,” she said.

As an example, when Decathlon opened its first Canadian location in Brossard, Quebec, the French community in Montreal played a huge role in spreading the word about their business. Despite having little public relations activities and relying mainly on word of mouth, the store opening was a major success. Through Moneris’ location data, Decathlon has identified key expansion opportunities, as the data revealed that most customers travel from outside the area to shop at the Brossard location. This insight has prompted the company to open two new locations in Quebec, in 2025.

Regarding customer loyalty, while it is still a work in progress for Decathlon in Canada, they are keen to adopt it into their business model. “There is a loyalty program built into our locations in France, but we are still currently looking into loyalty program options that are suitable for our customer base in Canada,” said Marie-Lou. “What we do have currently is a membership-based program, where participating customers who made a purchase but didn’t end up using the item have a one-year return or exchange policy, along with other key customer features.”

Overall, leveraging tools like Moneris’ Customer Acquisition and Loyalty reports has been instrumental in shaping Decathlon’s business strategy, offering insights that extend far beyond identifying store demand and expansion opportunities across Quebec. As a relatively young and growing retailer in Canada, Decathlon relies on Moneris data services to provide a comprehensive overview of customer behaviour. These tools allow Decathlon to track and validate the strength of its repeat buyers, monitor the acquisition of new customers, and measure brand awareness in a competitive market.

Why Moneris?

Marie-Lou and her team have had a positive experience working with Moneris. Using Moneris’ in-store location and acquisition & loyalty data, matched a lot of their internal needs, as they found the granularity of the data to be useful, manageable and accessible when analyzing and interpreting the information. Additionally, for a global company like Decathlon who works with partners from all over the world, it was important for them to find and work with well-established, credible businesses they could count on.

“The Decathlon team in Canada is quite lean, and we’ve experienced a lot of movement, so we’ve had different points of contact work with Moneris. And while there are so many things that you cannot predict when these changes happen, Moneris was a reliable partner for us throughout that process, and they’ve made those transitions a lot easier,” she said.

Looking Forward

“We're working to find our footing as we navigate the unique dynamics of each market. What's happening in Quebec is very different from what's unfolding in Toronto or the West Coast. Our goal is to adapt and align with these differences, always with the mindset of being truly useful. We’re committed to listening carefully, analyzing the data, and ensuring that we make informed, thoughtful decisions before moving forward,” said Marie-Lou.

As Decathlon continues to expand, they know it is essential to prioritize a solid understanding of the Canadian market and the differences in consumer behaviour across regions. Access to accurate and reliable data is also crucial for Decathlon to stay competitive and relevant. By leveraging Moneris’ data, this approach will guide Decathlon’s expansion efforts, ensure informed decisions are made to best serve their diverse customer base, and help the business confidently navigate regional nuances. Thus, contributing to the growth of Decathlon’s business both online and in-store, and helping them establish a strong presence in the market. And as Marie-Lou notes, the credibility and reassurance of working with a company like Moneris is something that makes merchants not have to think twice about the value of the data they receive.

To learn more about how you can make more data driven business decisions, click here.