French sports equipment retailer Decathlon, which has been operating in India through wholesale cash & carry retail outlets, is planning to open around 60 stores in India over the next five years. The company expects India to be one of the top five markets across the globe in terms of store count, as per separate media reports citing the head of India business.
At present, France, Spain, Italy and China are the other top global markets for Decathlon.
"India is a priority country. We dream to open 100 stores in India in five years... But, we feel (opening) 50-60 stores in possible," said Steve Dykes, India CEO, Decathlon Sports, told news agency PTI. In the last 12 months, the firm has started expanding its B2C stores as the government opened single brand retailing to 100 per cent FDI.
In February last year, the company had received approval for 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail and has planned an investment of Rs 700 crore in the country.
Prior to this, it had only B2B or wholesale retail stores.
The company has 12 operational company owned company operated (CoCo) stores in India and will be opening another eight stores by the end of this year.
Dykes said the firm will also look at selling products online once the government allows FDI in e-commerce.
The firm has prominent presence in the south and now would be looking at north and west regions of the country.
