Decathlon to buy and sell second-hand snow boots

Decathlon is expanding its second-hand offer: from now on, the sports stores will also collect used snow boots from customers and put them up for sale again.

Worn for two seasons only

With the arrival of the skiing holidays, Decathlon sees potential in second-hand snowshoes and boots. Consumers can now take their used snow boots to the stores in exchange for a voucher; even shoes from brands that are not normally sold at Decathlon are welcome. How much consumers get for their shoes depends on their condition.

“In this time of year, new snow boots are flying off the shelves. Since there is not much snow in Belgium and Belgians usually only go on a skiing holiday once a year, it is a product that is typically only worn for one, maximum two, winter seasons”, explains Arnaud De Coster, project manager Second Life & Buyback.

Once inspected, the shoes are sold at the stores with a second-hand price tag and a one-year guarantee. Decathlon primarily targets children and young people who usually outgrow their boots after one or two seasons. The campaign is in line with the retailer’s ambition to repair and sell more second-hand sports articles.  

More second-hand on the way

“Our traditional consumption pattern has to change: buy fewer new products and repair or resell more used equipment. This effort fits perfectly into our strategy of circular economy, in which we want to stimulate the reuse of products as much as possible”, says De Coster. Earlier, Decathlon also replaced Black Friday with Back Friday. In the space of four days, more than ten thousand products were returned.

By focusing on a circular economy, the retailer wants to reduce the environmental impact of sports, make sports more accessible by lowering the cost of the required equipment and make products more sustainable by extending their life cycle. Therefore, Decathlon will further scale up its second-hand channel in the coming months.