Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, addressed real estate constraints in physical stores in Singapore, increasing the customer’s product visibility in-store by integrating Scandit’s barcode scanning software with their customer app. A self-checkout app, it provides customers access to all Decathlon products, making shopping convenient with fast and accurate barcode scanning – contributing to approximately 15 to 25 percent of in-store transactions in Singapore.

Scanning can get challenging because we have different barcodes, 1-D barcodes and 2-D QR codes. We cannot ask customers to scan just the 1-D barcode or the QR-code; they must have the option to scan anything, and it has to be fast and accurate to ensure a good customer experience. Integrating Scandit’s smartphone scanning solution with our mobile app has given us the confidence that this part of the experience meets customer expectations.
Gael Robin, E-Commerce & Mobile Solutions Product Owner, Decathlon, Singapore

Challenge

Digitize customer experiences with the Decathlon app

Decathlon has over 1,647 stores across 1000 cities in 57 countries, and more than 5000 products across 80 sport categories. The company’s stores in Singapore are predominantly centrally located in shopping malls where real estate costs are prohibitively high – making it a challenge to stock and sell their growing range of products in existing large stores and smaller format ones. As a result, they wanted to explore sustainable solutions to help them maximize floor space.

Decathlon was also keen to improve the customer’s shopping experience and increase product visibility instore. Additionally, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic it was important to ensure customer safety. The Singapore team took the decision to accelerate mobile self-checkout solutions and empower their customers with an all-in-one solution.

ON-DEMAND WEBINAR Smartphone Scanning in Retail – Featuring Decathlon Singapore Find out more

Using the self-checkout app, customers would have the option of ordering bulky products, which Decathlon does not stock in-store, and simultaneously purchase essentials available in-store – all of which seemed like a winning strategy for the company.

Decathlon’s ‘phygital’ strategy involved placing digital at the core of their physical stores. The company noticed high volume browsing traffic originating through smartphones, but fewer purchases. They decided to make shopping on smartphones easier, and created the Decathlon app, a self-checkout customer app, which offered customers an omnichannel experience that combined online and offline interactions. The app would ensure that customers had access to all Decathlon products whether they were browsing in store or online, and eliminate queues with faster checkouts. Decathlon also wanted to increase orders through digital channels (the app and website) to over 25 percent, and address shrinkage from stock unavailability owing to real estate constraints.

The app used an open source barcode scanning software, which created accuracy issues, as barcodes could not be properly scanned in glare or low light conditions, at angles and distances, or if they were poorly printed.

Solution

Convenience and quality: the best-fit for a ‘phygital’ smartphone scanning app

Decathlon tested multiple barcode scanning solutions, but opted to integrate Scandit’s barcode scanner SDK into their app. Scandit’s solution offered fast and accurate barcode scanning, which was a reliable option for their customers. Also referred to as the ‘phygital’ app internally, the Scandit-powered self-checkout Decathlon app is available for Android and iOS devices, and used across all Singapore stores.

Customers enjoy shopping convenience by downloading the Decathlon app, signing up as members, scanning and paying for products using their smartphones. The cashless and self-service app, coupled with fast and accurate scanning means that customers enjoy hassle-free shopping and no longer need to queue at the checkout.

Check out customers enjoying shopping convenience with Decathlon’s Scandit-powered app

Says Gael Robin, E-Commerce & Mobile Solutions Product Owner, Decathlon, Singapore base, “As Decathlon grows, we want to continue offering customers the convenience and quality they expect from us. Shopping on their smartphones should be a consistent and convenient experience, irrespective of the environment they scan the barcode, or the mobile device they use. While we expected a 99.9 percent scanning accuracy, Scandit delivered 100 percent accuracy, a feature that encourages more customers to use our scanning-based smartphone app.”

Scandit’s barcode scanning solution delivered Decathlon:

  • Accuracy: 100 percent accurate scans even when scanning problematic barcodes such as on torn or worn labels, and in low light or at difficult angles.
  • Ease of integration: Integrating Scandit’s barcode scanning solution with the Decathlon app was easy and done internally without the need to coordinate with several different developers.

Results

In app purchases account for approximately 10 percent of digital sales
~10%
Users have downloaded the scanning enabled app
200,000+
Customer satisfaction ranks high at 90 percent
90%

Superfast, superior scanning performance increases app adoption

Decathlon has been using Scandit’s scanning solution in its app for over two years now. Customer adoption and engagement with the ‘phygital’ app continues to grow. The convenience it offers shoppers has seen more than 200,000 users download the app on Android and iOS devices. 

In Singapore, around 10 percent of digital purchases are made through the Scandit-powered app.The pandemic also helped increase usage of the smartphone app, as customers stayed away from stores, preferring to shop using digital channels. It has proven to help the business address shrinkage from stock unavailability owing to real estate constraints; and will, in the long run, offer significant savings on real estate investments.

Aware of the challenge in changing customer mindsets, Decathlon is promoting their Scandit-enabled smartphone app as an omnichannel solution with a ‘phygital cart’ – encouraging customers to embrace self-checkout to avoid queuing at PoS terminals. For products that are not available in stores, customers can scan the barcodes, pay for them and receive free delivery within two hours at a location of their choice.  

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