Decathlon is streamlining the management of its European operations through the Skyfleet® Programme

Find out how Decathlon, a global player in the sports retail sector, has transformed a fragmented fulfilment system spread across multiple warehouses into an automated, integrated and efficient ecosystem.

Who is Decathlon?

Decathlon is a global sports brand catering to everyone, from beginners to professional athletes. As an innovative manufacturer of sports equipment for all levels of ability, the company has over 101,100 employees and 1,817 stores worldwide. Since 1976, Decathlon has been committed to making sport accessible to everyone, promoting the benefits and enjoyment of physical activity.

The Challenge

The rapid growth of e-commerce and rising demand in physical stores have put pressure on a network of warehouses designed for smaller volumes and separate fulfilment channels.

It has become clear that we need to rethink how we supply our retail outlets, bringing goods closer to the shops – and, consequently, to customers – to ensure a faster and more effective response to demand.

Decathlon was looking for an advanced warehouse logistics solution capable of:

• Making warehouses more responsive to customer needs.
• Reduce inventory forecasting lead times and minimise excess stock.
• Reduce the amount of manual work carried out by staff, freeing up time for activities that add greater value.

All these changes had to be implemented across several warehouses without disrupting operations, so as to achieve tangible results quickly.
To meet this challenge, Decathlon partnered with Exotec, working together to develop a bespoke solution that combines advanced automation with optimised logistics processes.

The Exotec solution: seven standardised warehouses across Europe

Traditionally, warehouse automation solutions are highly customised and designed to meet the specific needs of a single site. However, these systems are often inflexible and difficult to adapt as business needs grow.

With rising demand and warehouse constraints, Decathlon wanted to equip seven of its existing warehouses in France, the UK, Portugal, Germany and Italy with new automated solutions.

Exotec has proposed a standardised automation strategy, developing the Skyfleet® programme – an automated framework tailored specifically for Decathlon and applicable across the entire warehouse ecosystem. This approach transforms each warehouse into a virtually identical solution, built using modular components and connected via Exotec’s WES system, Deepsky®.

The solution enables Decathlon to add or remove subsystems, robots and capabilities in line with demand, ensuring flexibility, scalability and operational consistency across all warehouses.

The results of Decathlon’s Skyfleet programme

By consolidating its warehouses into a scalable automated ecosystem, Decathlon is already seeing significant results.

At the Skyfleet® warehouse in Northampton, for example, operational efficiency has increased significantly:

• The floor space required for order preparation has been reduced from 17,000 to 5,000 m², freeing up valuable storage space.
• The number of staff involved in order picking has fallen, allowing staff to focus on higher-value-added activities, such as inventory management.
• The pressure for seasonal recruitment has eased.
• The employee experience has improved: the average daily distance travelled has fallen from 10 km to 1 km, reducing the daily physical exertion.

These improvements are evident across the entire Skyfleet® network. In Setúbal, Portugal, the warehouse has doubled the number of orders it processes each day, reducing picking times by 60%.

Thanks to these efficiency gains, Decathlon is able to increase the number of stores it supplies. In Ferrières-en-Brie, France, the warehouse now supplies 73 stores, compared with 37 previously.

Key benefits

• Faster B2B and B2C fulfilment: B2B distribution centres supply B2C centres, speeding up the delivery of orders for shop restocking and e-commerce, reducing stock levels and saving space, time and costs.
• Minimal operational disruption and rapid deployment: The standardisation of warehouses has enabled us to quickly apply the lessons learnt from the first implementations, reducing go-live times. The latest site was completed in nine months.

• Workforce support: Skypod® robots deliver goods directly to operators at ergonomic workstations, reducing the need for walking and heavy lifting. The standardised solution also makes staff training easier.

• Seamless scalability as the business grows: The solution’s modular design makes it easy to adapt to rising demand. For example, the Ferrières-en-Brie site added 13 extra robots after going live to meet the warehouse’s needs.

• A single software layer: Exotec provides long-term support for operations and maintenance. Thanks to the Deepsky® Warehouse Execution Software, Decathlon has standardised dashboards to monitor the performance of all Skyfleet® sites, share best practices and optimise the entire ecosystem.

“Our initial objective was clear: to enhance the flexibility of our network whilst ensuring reliability and predictability. The standardisation provided by Exotec has enabled us to avoid stock-outs. Our warehouse staff have also benefited from improved working conditions, with more varied and less physically demanding tasks .”
– Jérôme Saillour, Head of Buildings and Automation, Decathlon Logistic United

Thanks to the Skyfleet® programme, Decathlon has transformed its network of European warehouses into a connected and scalable fulfilment ecosystem. Stores are now restocked via a unified system capable of adapting to fluctuating demand, whilst maintaining speed, reliability and operational efficiency.

Would you like to find out more about the Skyfleet® programme? Contact us for a personalised consultation and discover how our solution can transform your warehouse, optimise processes and boost operational efficiency – just as it has done for Decathlon across Europe.