Decathlon to create 200 new jobs in the UK by 2021

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Jul 3, 2019

Decathlon’s UK arm posted pre-tax losses of £10.8 million last year after opening seven new stores, but the sportswear retailer shows no signs of slowing down as it plans its 50th UK store.

Further, Decathlon has announced plans to create 200 new jobs by 2021 and is investing in a new UK warehouse to support its growing business.

Last year the French retailer opened seven new doors and redeveloped its campus store and headquarters at Surrey Quays in London, so its losses were in line with management expectations. But annual sales increased by 14.4% during the year, and online sales grew by 19.6%.

Alberto Bottan, chief financial officer at Decathlon UK said that the company is confident the investment will bear fruit as it has seen positive trading figures in the year to date.

“While 2018 was a challenging year for the retail sector for a variety of reasons, 2019’s year-on-year performance has been very encouraging.  Already we are seeing positive 2019 YTD performance with 15.9% total growth, including 27.1% growth in online turnover.

“There has also been encouraging performance across the UK, including a profitable first year for our new concept compact store in High Street Kensington,” he said.

Decathlon UK hired 248 new employees last year, bringing the total number of ‘team mates’ employed in the UK to a total of 1,606. And it insisted it wants to grow its presence across the whole of Britain, with its stores in Scotland performing particularly well last year.

“This positive trading has encouraged further investment in the UK, not only in new stores, but also in creating a true omni-channel, seamless service between our store and online experiences,” Bottan said.