French sports chain Decathlon opened its largest store in Singapore late last month, as the European retailer continues to build upon its popularity in the Asian market. Dubbed ‘Decathlon Singapore Lab’, the new experience store is located at Stadium Boulevard and covers 5,000 square metres of retail space, making it the biggest Singapore store. It is also opened 24 hours.
In addition to Decathlon’s inventory of sports apparel, footwear and accessories, the new ‘Lab’ boasts a series of ‘experiential’ features including an indoor area of four different running surfaces wherein shoppers can test running shoes before purchasing, as well as a hiking path with a gravel surface for the testing products in-store.
At a media briefing last month, Decathlon Singapore chief executive Yves Claude said the store has been named Decathlon Singapore Lab “because a lab is a disruptive and innovative place where we test new solutions.”
The store also hosts an Active Health Lab in partnership with Sport Singapore, where users can take a free health assessment and there are free-to-play areas next to the store as well.
To speed up the delivery process for shoppers, Decathlon has established an in-house conveyor built that transports products as soon as they are ordered online. Shoppers can also order online and collect their items at their preferred store within two hours for free.
“We have to give new reasons for customers to come back to our store,” added Claude.
The store is the latest in a string of ‘Decathlon Experience’ stores being rolled out across Singapore and is the fourth in the nation’s offering.
Decathlon also has a 4,000-square-metre showroom in Joo Koon and two click-and-collect stores.
In May last year, Decathlon signed a memorandum of understanding with Sport Singapore, which marked the announcement of this new Decathlon in Kallang.
“We share a common purpose, which is to make sport accessible. They come with a good price point, high-quality products, (and) most importantly, they come with ideas on how to improve participation,” said Lim Teck Yin, Sport Singapore CEO.