"Decathlon, the store that sends all its customers outside." That line was on a patch in our first stores, fifty years ago. It still holds. Today it lives in an app. Decathlon Outdoor takes you from your front door to the end of the trail. More than 115,000 routes across Europe. Free, every single one. Free for the person who has walked mountains for thirty years. Free for the person going out for the first time on Sunday. Free for the parent looking for a path their child can finish. That last one matters most. A user told us the app helped her find walks she could do with her son, for whom the effort itself is already a victory. Last year, people shared 225,000 photos on the app so that others could find the same spots. Our purpose is to bring people together through sport to make wellbeing accessible for all. Sometimes that means a store. Sometimes it means a free map.
A free app with 115,000 routes does more than drive foot traffic. It builds a community that identifies your brand with their actual lifestyle. A store sells the gear for the hike, but the app owns the relationship with the hiker. That ownership of the full journey is a much deeper moat than any retail loyalty program.
The line that lands is the one in the middle. “A path their child can finish.” Everyone builds a map to show off the epic routes. You built one big enough to hold the small ones too. 115,000 isn’t reach for its own sake. It’s the odds that somewhere in there sits a walk sized exactly to a kid for whom finishing is the whole win. Free just means nobody gets sorted out at the door. Lovely piece, Javier! 🥾
Javier López Segovia thank you for your investment at Decathlon. It is not a only a famous and favourite brand of so many French. Is it also a dedicated company to sport eco system, sport association and inclusion projects. It is local, regional, and national. Thank you for sponsoring regional projects in Occitanie. Giving opportunities to everyone, disabled, women, amateur, is as important as business success.
Decathlon Outdoor is such a great app to find hiking trails, whether you're on holiday or just looking for a spot near home over the weekend (even in Paris! 🙂 🗼)
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One of my favorite apps 🤩 Just a quick tip: it's important to follow the lines 😅, Trust me!
Brilliant mission. More than selling gear, Decathlon makes outdoor sports accessible for all. The community‑shared routes are such a nice touch. Great post! 👍
Love this Fred. Set them FREE!
Javier, this is remarkable — fifty years and the DNA hasn't shifted an inch. "The store that sends all its customers outside" becoming an app with 115,000 free routes is not a pivot; it is the same promise, delivered in a different century. The story about the mother finding trails her son can finish — that is what real accessibility looks like. Not a marketing word, but a decision to make the door wide enough for everyone. At HPEP, we think about accessibility from the ground up — because no map matters if someone's feet hurt halfway through. The outdoor industry has done a brilliant job democratizing where people can go; the next step is making sure every foot on every trail feels supported enough to keep going. Respect for staying true to the mission for half a century.