Decathlon acquires cycling specialist Alltricks

Alltricks, the French e-tailer specialised in cycling products and equipment, has shifted to a higher gear with the arrival of Decathlon as shareholder. The giant French sport distribution group has announced the acquisition of the shares in Alltricks’s capital held since 2014 by PartechPartners, EntrepreneurVenture, 123IM, Sonorfi, Financière de la Gommerie and a series of business angels, becoming the new majority shareholder.

Alltricks was founded in 2008 by former mountain bike champion Gary Anssens. Initially focusing on bicycles, spare parts and accessories, the site soon became a major player in the cycling market at large, and recently extended its range to running products. Alltricks claims it had over one million customers and generated a revenue of €65 million in 2018, and that it is targeting €80 million this year.

“With Decathlon, we have chosen an experienced, enthusiastic partner, able to ensure the continuity of Alltricks’s DNA and to step up the pace of its web and omni-channel growth,” said Anssens in a press release. Alltricks started to create a brick-and-mortar store network three years ago, and at the beginning of 2019 it opened its first store in the Paris region, at Issy-les-Moulineaux. At the time, Alltricks said it wanted to open some fifteen stores with franchised partners.

The amount paid by Decathlon was not disclosed, but in three previous funding rounds Alltricks raised a total of €12.2 million. Anssens no longer has a majority stake in Alltricks now, but is still a shareholder, and “remains entirely independent, retaining a significant stake alongside Decathlon,” stated the press release.

How will the strategies of Decathlon and Alltricks fit together? “In terms of product range depth, delivery time, e-marketplace know-how, logistics and customer relationships, Allltricks will help us do even better,” said Arnaud Gauquelin, leader of Decathlon France.

In the press release, the two partners indicated that “a new team has been created, with a local outlook and an international dimension, in order to implement all possible synergies and concepts.”

In practical terms, it remains to be seen what part the Decathlon cycling range will play, with its own brands Rockrider, Van Risel, Triban and B-Twin, alongside the 500 or so directional brands stocked by Alltricks. Also, what Alltricks plans to do on the physical retail front. In the last decade, Decathlon, which operates 1,560 stores worldwide, of which 315 in France, focused on its eponymous chain, notably closing down Ataos and selling the Terres & Eaux and Chullanka chains.

Last year, sales for the Decathlon group grew by 5%, reaching €11.3 billion, while in France alone they were worth €3.14 billion, down by 5%.

Decathlon acquires cycling specialist Alltricks

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