Global sporting goods retailer and RAIN Alliance member Decathlon is one of the first retailers to deploy RAIN technology across its entire value chain—from factories to stores. Decathlon has spent over a decade leveraging RAIN to enhance product availability, streamline checkout, and strengthen security. We caught up with Hervé D’Halluin, Decathlon’s RFID and Traceability Leader and RAIN Alliance Board member, to discuss how the company continues to push the boundaries of innovation with RAIN technology.
Tell us how Decathlon has benefited from RAIN technology.
At Decathlon, we believe in the power of technology to drive efficiency and enhance our operations. We’ve seen significant improvements in three key areas:
- Stock management: Our stock management is more accurate, which improves our turnover rate. RAIN allows us to better track inventory, ensuring that the right products are in the right place at the right time.
- Product shrinkage: In our business, it is always a fight against shrinkage from theft, misplaced products, and other inventory losses. With RAIN, we have better control over our product flows. We have been able to minimize losses and improve overall store and warehouse security.
- Distribution center: We have seen greater efficiency in our distribution centers in terms of supply, picking, packing, and many other processes. By using RAIN technology, we streamline logistics operations, making order fulfillment faster and more accurate.
RAIN is a game-changer for us!
What excites you most about the future of RAIN technology?
RAIN technology continues to create more value for our customers and our business. Soon, mobile phones will have RAIN readers, enabling customers to learn more about our products. This is a huge opportunity for Decathlon to enhance our interactions with customers. I remember discussing having RAIN in mobile phones over five years ago. Back then, people thought it was crazy, but now it is happening. This kind of long-term vision is possible with RAIN technology.
Decathlon has been a RAIN Alliance member for 10 years — and you serve on the Board. What value do you get from being a RAIN Alliance member?
As a member of the RAIN Alliance, Decathlon is part of a network that is shaping the future of this technology, helping businesses like ours optimize operations and prepare for evolving global regulations. There is going to be a lot of legislation and reporting regarding customs, not just Brexit but other global changes, like the EU Digital Product Passport. As regulations evolve, RAIN technology will play a crucial role in ensuring compliance while maintaining operational efficiency.
Membership in RAIN allows us to actively engage with emerging regulations, providing a space to exchange insights, prepare effective strategies, and contribute to shaping future rules positively.
The most evident benefit of membership is that it is an ecosystem. As an end user of RAIN, it is important for us to meet our ecosystem, share information, and communicate what we need –better tags, improved readers, etc. Being under the RAIN umbrella allows us to speak freely with other members without concerns of competition or collusion. It also gives us an opportunity to connect with other retailers, brands, and industries, which allows us to push the adoption of RAIN technology in more sectors.
Being part of this ecosystem means we can bring our challenges to the industry directly and consider how to solve them collaboratively, I can’t think of a better way to ensure our future needs are met.