Flipkart partners with Decathlon to expand sports portfolio

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Oct 30, 2017

Indian e-commerce major Flipkart has strengthened its sports portfolio by partnering with Decathlon to sell the latter’s sports merchandise to its customer base of over 100 million via its marketplace.

The Bangalore-based e-commerce giant, after capturing a major share of India’s online fashion market with its subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong, is now looking to establish its presence in the booming sportswear market in the country.
 
From 2015 to 2016, the Indian sportswear market grew 22 percent, according to a research by Euromonitor. The sportswear market is India is expected to witness a surge and by 2020, it is expected to grow an additional 12 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) with sales expected to reach $8 billion.

To capitalize on this growth e-commerce companies are constantly scaling up its offerings to lure customers to their websites.
 
Under this partnership, all Decathlon products such as sports equipment, fitness products, clothing, footwear and accessories will go online on Flipkart.
 
"This is a milestone partnership where a sports retail giant like Decathlon has chosen Flipkart as its preferred partner to expand its reach to online Indian shoppers," said Flipkart Fashion Head Rishi Vasudev, in a statement.
 
"We are confident that with this association will further cement Flipkart's dominance as the most-preferred online destination for every sports and fitness enthusiast," he added.

Flipkart currently has more than $4 billion in cash and is in talks with various firms to diversify its business in the country to take on its bitter rival Amazon India.
 
From the $4 billion, Flipkart made one of its biggest investments in the digital payments space recently with capital infusion of $500 million (approx Rs 3243 crore) into its digital wallet firm PhonePe.