World’s Largest Sports Retailer Runs on MuleSoft to Deliver Omnichannel Customer Experiences

By STS News Desk On Sep 4, 2019

World's Largest Sports Retailer Runs on MuleSoft to Deliver Omnichannel Customer Experiences

Anypoint Platform enables Decathlon to innovate at scale, launch new products to market, and expand its presence to the United States and beyond

MuleSoft, provider of the leading platform for building application networks, announced that Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting retailer, is using MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform to deliver connected customer experiences and broaden its reach to new regional markets. Anypoint Platform has enabled Decathlon to build a foundation of reusable APIs, making it easier than ever to plug in new services and drive seamless customer experiences at scale — both online and in stores.

Decathlon operates over 1,600 sporting goods stores in 52 countries across the globe and is dedicated to making sports accessible to all by offering the highest quality products at the lowest possible prices. Decathlon recently embarked on a journey to establish a brick-and-mortar and e-commerce presence in the United States. MuleSoft is playing an important role in Decathlon’s expanding business by enabling the company to build an application network. By using APIs to connect systems and processes — such as point of sale software, order management, and inventory data — in an application network, the company can easily access and reuse applications and data to scale globally.

Decathlon uplevels customer experience with cashless payments, in-store robots, and more

Decathlon is using API-led connectivity to merge its physical stores and digital capabilities, driving new omnichannel experiences for its customers. Beginning in the United States and extending to other locations around the world, the company is leveraging its growing number of reusable APIs to iterate on brand new customer experiences.

For example, Decathlon USA’s Emeryville, California location integrated its cloud-based order management system with mobile point-of-sale and cashless payment systems to eliminate the need for consumers to go through a traditional checkout lane.

Pulling data from the same order management system, Decathlon store associates can use their iPhones to share real-time aisle inventory information with shoppers and order non-stocked items for home delivery or in-store pickup. The retailer has even rolled out autonomous inventory robots in its Bay Area stores. Connecting to Decathlon’s backend systems, each bot conducts precise, daily inventory counts and provides specific location information for products.

“At Decathlon, our work starts and stops with delivering amazing experiences for our customers, and MuleSoft makes this easy,” said Tony Leon, CIO and CTO, Decathlon USA. “Anypoint Platform’s combination of API and integration capabilities lets us reimagine and deliver new in-store experiences almost instantly.”

Decathlon builds a foundation for digital transformation with API-led connectivity

In order to consistently deliver the modern omnichannel experiences that customers expect, Decathlon USA knew it needed to create a strong foundation of technology building blocks. Decathlon began by designing a cloud-based order management platform with reusable APIs — including product prices, order reconciliation, inventory, and fulfillment.

Using Anypoint Platform, Decathlon built and deployed a core set of 11 reusable APIs, abstracting away from legacy systems to make hard-to-reach data more accessible. With its modernized order management foundation, Decathlon e-commerce orders are synced up with real-time inventory data so that customers experience a seamless checkout process.

New projects continue to add more “nodes” to the application network, enabling more opportunities for reuse by stakeholders across the business to build connected customer experiences, increase operational efficiencies, and create new products and services. With a decoupled architecture, Decathlon will be able to add technologies, like a new shipping solution, in one third of the time.

“At Decathlon, innovation is in our DNA, and MuleSoft has been a critical driver for us to invent new customer experiences at speed,” said Leon. “With Anypoint Platform, we are turning our most valuable technology assets into reusable building blocks, accessible through a repository of secure APIs. Developer teams across the entire business can access and reconfigure these building blocks, unlocking endless potential for innovation and expansion. For example, our order management project would have taken a year without MuleSoft, but we completed it in four months, tripling the delivery speed.”