France-headquartered retail giant Decathlon has stepped into the bicycle rentals market in the UK, also offering sports equipment on loan.
Making sport “more affordable than ever”, the rental programme starts from £10 a day and 50% off on the second day. Kayaks, tennis rackets, paddle boards and more are part of the programme.
Bicycle rentals can be ordered online and collected in store an hour later – as well as cancelled up to 24 hours in advance if the weather changes.
“We want to move people through the joy of sport, so we’ve got you covered with rentals on our most popular sports”.
Decathlon has been developing its bike retail model significantly in recent years, including its ‘Second Life Marketplace’ which launched in 2021, incentivising customers to recycle or re-use a bike – rather than pushing customers to purchase a brand new ride. That move appears to have been prompted by the then troubled supply chain.
Decathlon’s UK store portfolio numbers almost 50 shops, including those ‘store within a store’ sharing a roof with the likes of Asda.
The bike rental market has long been seen as a potential route to sell bicycles, as well as drive profit for retailers. Software offerings like Bike Rental Manager have been developed for bike shops delving into the sector. Rental is now also being leveraged in other sides of the cycling industry, including Riese & Müller’s recent introduction of a new rental concept for eCargo bikes with Riese & Müller RENT, offering 3 bike types to small businesses, for £5 or £4 per day, over a three month rental contract.
