Decathlon launches subscription service in Belgium

With a monthly subscription for sports equipment and clothing, French sports retailer Decathlon wants to attract mainly families with children. The service will be trialled in two Belgian stores.

Three formulas

Subscribers can borrow the gear of their choosing for as long as they want and exchange it for other products at any time. Returned gear is checked by Decathlon teams and refurbished for subsequent use. Safety products and consumables are excluded from the offer. There are three subscription packages: for 25 euros a month, customers can borrow products with a total new-value of up to 400 euros, for 50 euros a month the maximum new-value is 1000 euros and for 95 euros a month the new-value limit goes up to 2000 euros.

With the “We Play Circular” subscription service, Decathlon is mainly targeting families with children, who need sports equipment for weekly hobbies, or who want to discover new sports at the weekend or on holiday. The subscription is also suitable for regular athletes who need equipment and clothing to practice or learn different sports.

This is a European first, although the retailer already tested the concept in 2021 with seventy customers. Now, the offer is limited to 1,000 subscribers. When subscriptions open, 150 subscriptions will be available and capacity will be increased every month. Decathlon is doing this to explore the new model and study the possibility of further expansion.