Decathlon today unveiled a new retail experience in India at its store in Eva Mall, Bengaluru.
To elevate the shopping and sporting experience, Decathlon introduces a 'phygital experience' - an innovative mix of physical retail and digital touch points.
From virtual reality to digital payments the intent is to create a fun, unique and immersive user experience designed to engage and add value to for them at every step of the way while choosing their favourite sports gear.
Users welcome a simple and easy shopping experience that is interactive and fun. Decathlon Eva Mall is designed for users to truly explore a sport experience, Decathlon products and make a self-informed best choice - by selecting products of their choice without having to ask for assistance.
Speaking on launch of the phygital experience, Pierre Digbo, City Leader Bengaluru and Coach of the South Zone, said, "Decathlon's vision is to inspire over 1 billion Indians to try or discover different sports and encourage users to re-engage and play their favourite sports or pick a new one. Our new store format aims to create an engaging and memorable shopping experience that removes any inconveniences users face while shopping such as being unable to find or locate a product in-store. At the same time, Decathlon Eva Mall much like our future stores provides a sports platform that allows users to experience or learn a new sport and connect and interact with other sports enthusiasts. The Decathlon Eva Mall concept store is inspired by our vision to 'make sports accessible to many' and further solidifies our continued dedication to this vision."
This first of its kind store is a place for everyone that wants to try new sports; beginner (just starting); intermediate sport enthusiasts (plays for fun); and experienced those that play a sport every day. Decathlon Eva Mall inspires people to play sports and help them discovery the pleasures and benefits of sports by educating them on how to learn a new sport and enabling them with sport advice content and connecting them to coaches to improve their game with the correct advice and guidance. It offers a playground and a platform for users to find a facility nearby or events to practice the sport of their choice, while equipping them with well-priced, innovative, technically superior, durable and comfortable products. In a first, the store also features a dedicated meet-up area for like-minded sports enthusiasts to connect over workshops, classes and events focussing on sports, health and nutrition or activities like meditation and concentration all within the confines of the store. Moreover, Decathlon's own team is a group of sport enthusiasts who believe in sharing their passion of sports and also want everyone to experience the pleasure and benefits of sports. This is reflected throughout the store.
Located in Bengaluru's city center, the Eva Mall store is smaller than traditional Decathlon store formats. The combination of a physical retail environment with digital innovation means you can enjoy an elevated Decathlon experience with a full range of products through the phygital experience. From placing products for easy access; including quirky and relatable signage and several unique features (listed below) enables a user friendly and a true 'phygital' experience:
• Welcome zone - an interaction area where users can wait for their family or friends or use the time to learn more about Decathlon, its products and the inspiration behind them.
• Scan and go - to offer users a smooth, quick and easy checkout process with no assistance, users can use the self-checkout kiosks. Simply scan a product they want to buy, pay for it using a UPI, debit card or credit card, take their bill and leave without needing any assistance.
• Entire range of Decathlon products - users can now enjoy and experience the entire offering of Decathlon India's 50 sports and 5,000 products by using the Decathlon mobile application. The mobile application allows users to access and explore the products that might not be featured in the store and then order the product of their choice, with free home delivery within 24 hours.
• Locate your product - users no longer need to waste time asking for assistance in finding a product. With an easy to use interactive map conveniently located at the entrance of the store, users can quickly look up products they want to buy along with directions to where it is located in the store.
• Virtual reality zone - to showcase the entire range of products in the store, Decathlon Eva Mall features virtual reality technology for users to experience outdoor equipment such as camping tents. Users use the VR experience to choose various terrains: mountains, beach, forest and different weather conditions: rainy, sunny, windy or cloudy to experience the features of the camping tents. Moreover, miniature tents are also available to understand the look and feel the texture of tent.
• Test zone - urging everyone to try a new sport, the store features test zones enabling users to try their hand at football, basketball, cricket, cross training and rock climbing.
• Decafe - creating a sport conducive environment, Decafe is a meet-up area to experience sports workshops or engage and exchange thoughts on your favourite sport while enjoying a mix of healthy salads, sandwiches, and drinks, promoting a healthy lifestyle and living. Additionally, the cafe also screens all kinds of sporting events like kabaddi, hockey and also cricket matches.
Experiential stores are the future of retail and with over 5,000 products representing 50 sports, users at Decathlon's Eva Mall store will now be able to enjoy a unique shopping and sports experience.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
