Decathlon, a global sporting goods retailer, is looking to grow its market share to 20 per cent in the next three years in major developing nations, including India, by improving its delivery and logistics management with data analytics and machine learning.

For this, Decathlon will be using the technology expertise of Alibaba and Paytm-backed LogiNext, a SaaS-based logistics and field workforce optimisation start-up based out of Mumbai with an office in California.

LogiNext will help Decathlon expand its distribution network in several developing markets to grow its business outside Europe, its biggest market at present. The company will be using Loginext’s machine learning algorithms that are designed to read traffic and weather patterns from historical delivery movement information. LogiNext has also set-up a unique solution set that offers exceptional logistics movement visibility across geographies for the sporting goods giants, said Loginext’s founder and CEO Dhruvil Sanghvi.

Optimising operations

He added that with LogiNext’s technology, the French retailer will be able to track the fleet vehicles through a centralised controlling dashboard and can plan their delivery routes and estimated time of arrivals through real-time ground-level location analytics. Decathlon, a €11 billion company is present in 28 countries across the world and is expanding its base in Southeast Asia.

“This would help them eliminate bottlenecks, both predictable and unpredictable, such as planning for the workforce for loading and unloading around the regularly updated estimated time of arrivals,” Sanghvi added.

The future of sporting goods manufacturing and usage is set to increase multi-fold as the demand for sports merchandise has grown exponentially in the past few years. Delivery management and optimisation would play a key role in bridging the supply and demand in this industry, Sanghvi added.

Apart from Decathlon, LogiNext is also providing logistics-related solutions to global players such as German logistics company DHL, Coca-Cola, ride-hailing firm Grab, United Spirits, Agility Logistics, Procter & Gamble and Unilever among many online retailers in India.