Project: Decathlon
Date: Dec 2021
My role: Visual design, research, user flow, benchmark, ideation, strategy
OVERVIEW
I was born in Brazil and ridding road bikes down there is definitely not for everyone, they are simply not affordable and if you have to buy the equipment that goes with, such as quality shoes, pedals, clothes, then you better forget it and ride a cheap mountain bike for fun. After moving to Europe, I could buy my first road bike, and after that, I had many other ones, but still, never really understood why these bikes are so expensive?
PROBLEM
Decathlon bikes are great and very competitive, although, amateurs and professional riders prefer to invest in famous bike brands that cost almost twice the price.
How can I change this perception that Decathlon bikes are not good enough?
I’ve decided to do a research on my own and prove my point.
GOALS
1 - Prove that sometimes cheaper bikes can be as good as expensive ones.
2 - Passion for cycling should be above competition.
3 - Design an experience that provides simplicity to riders.
STATEMENT
The world is changing at a fast pace and bicycles are step by step replacing cars and other means of transport. Proof of it, cars manufacturers are producing their own branded bikes.
The world of road bikes is a world apart, where brands dispute every year for the best design, aerodynamics, weight, and so on. When these bikes win competitions their price goes up to the moon. It is true that during this transition, branded bikes are still very expensive, and believe me or not, the bike’s black market composed mainly of second-hand stolen bikes is worth 58 million accordingly to "bikebiz".
Source: https://www.bikebiz.com/bike-black-market-worth-58-million/
COMPETITIVE RESEARCH
We always talk about the quality of products coming from Asia, some say that buying things from there can be more miss than hit and most people have goosebumps when we say it is coming from China, but do you know where the majority of these bikes come from?
Asia. More specifically China and Taiwan.
The reality is that there are many unbranded carbon fibre frames manufacturers that produce frames
for prestigious bike companies that you most definitely heard of. Pinarello, Colnago, Felt, Cannondale, Specialized, Bianchi and many others.
These brands approach these factories in China and get them to mass-produce their frames and they will work with those factories to upscale production.
These factories have world-class expertise when it comes to manufacturing carbon fibre bikes on a mass-production scale, but their expertise doesn’t necessarily lay on innovation, computation fluid dynamics, optimizing shapes to be as aerodynamic as possible, which comes from the brands and the bike designers.
And guess what? All the major pieces from your bike, also come from Asia, probably from brands called Shimano or SRAM. Front and rear derailleurs, cassettes, brakes, cranksets, wheels, etc, you name it. Japanese and American companies manufactured in china and assembled in different countries. We can affirm that 95% of bikes are produced in China and Taiwan.
Just because these frames are produced in China, it doesn’t inherently mean that this is a garbage product.
A lot of big brands are doing it so there's a lot to be set from that.
Source: https://www.bike-advisor.com/where-has-my-bicycle-been-made/
COMPARISON
I’ve decided to do a compare a couple of very famous brands with Decathlon bikes.
In this exercise, we see Canyon from Germany, versus Van Rysel from Decathlon France.
Sources: https://99spokes.com/en-EU/compare?bikes=canyon-ultimate-cf-sl-8-di2-2021,vanrysel-ultra-cf-ultegra-carbon-road-bike-2021
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/ultra-cf-ultegra-carbon-road-bike/_/R-p-301058
REFLEXION
Moneywise speaking, Decathlon bikes are cheaper if compared to Canyon or other big bike brands,
even if decathlon bikes have more features or the same tech and design as some of these big brands.
On the other hand, Canyon bikes can only be bought online, meaning that you never have to see your bike before it is shipped to your home, nevertheless, cyclists buy it.
If we follow this logic, people are more attached to brands than actual road bikes. They don’t really care where it’s manufactured, but they do care where it is assembled.
Decathlon bikes are also produced in Asia as any other brand, use the same parts as any other brands but don’t have the same prestige. Why?
USER RESEARCH
GCN, one of the top bike programs on the internet asked a question to Sean Kelly, a four-time green jersey on the tour de France, and he said he could win the championship riding a cheaper bike if he could modify it a bit.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNV2psLKy0A
So, I decided to do a qualitative survey with 15 riders from a varied age range, males and females, amateurs and professional road riders, about their thoughts on decathlon bikes, and here is what
I could collect:
New riders don’t know that many bikes are made in China, but they are not surprised
because as they say, almost everything is made in Asia nowadays.
Amateurs like Decathlon bikes and they think they have quality and affordable products.
Professional riders believe in tradition, bikes that were tested in professional competitions
and proved to be good bikes, also design, even knowing that some of their frames are manufactured in Asia.
A few bike producers use a variety of bike pieces like Campagnolo.
This brand for instance, is as good as Shimano or SRAM but way more expensive because their factory is in Italy.
Conclusion: For an almost unanimous decision, riders think Decathlon doesn’t have focused development products and passion for cycling.
They buy Decathlon because they think they are cheaper when in fact they should be buying because their quality is undeniable, and they know it.
PERSONA
After interviewing 15 people, and having different points of view, I knew I couldn’t go extreme and only think about pro riders. I had to take into consideration that people love road bikes but they are still too expensive, so riders can’t take it too seriously and become pros, but become amateurs for the passion, spend some good money on quality equipment and use it for several purposes.
IDEATION
Most of the prestigious bike brands portray every kind of information including details like the handlebar tape, kind of chain, dimensions of every single piece, geometry tables that are on the whole too complicated but very complete and many people don’t understand, bundles and more, while decathlon website fails on not showing these info that amateurs and professional riders definitely take into consideration when they are about to take decisions.
After taking into consideration the rider’s comments, they think Decathlon doesn’t have focused development products and passion for cycling. Well, they do have, but it is difficult to portray when they have to show they are passionate about all the other sports at once. Decathlon does not put ahead their design in the same way other brands do, and their website follows more or less what other bike brands do.
I want to portray a page dedicated to riders in a way they have never seen before even on prestigious bike websites. Take a car configurator, the Porsche one or the BMW for instance.
Users never lose the car on the page, and info and features are being added automatically, like this they feel cars are being made for them.
Of course, decathlon bikes cannot be customized the way cars can be, but we can add a couple of extra features, chose colors and have info about every single piece. The experience can also be optimized in a way that users can easily decide the kind of bikes they need with all the info needed.
This is the actual decathlon website with its sections guiding the user directly to the vast variety of bikes, but they don’t tell anything about the riders. The idea is to include one section where riders can evaluate themselves based on their morphology to help them to find the perfect bike.
’ve decided to use the French version because it has fewer clicks compared to the English website. Decathlon's search engine works in a way that people easily find whatever they need, so it is not necessary to change or recreate the user flow, but only make people live an experience as if bikes were made for them.
Search for road bikes
No emphasis on the rider
Include a set up section
There are many factors to take into consideration when choosing the perfect bike and many websites do not take into account such factors as the rider’s weight, age, height, morphology, etc.
The idea is to put these factors into practice so that the site can offer options for the best bikes adapted to the cyclist. A carbon bike will not always be the faster and lighter bike depending on who rides it.
As people hardly ever know their measures, we put together an interactive feature to play with the morphology of the rider to find the perfect bike accordingly to the rider’s sizes and measures. Measurement apps like “Nettelo”, will be on the links in case users don’t have a way to measure their bodies. These measures will be helpful when decathlon have to deliver the bikes, that will be adjusted accordingly to the rider’s choices.
Rider’s morphology
Rider’s measures
Extra info
High-fidelity prototype
On the second part of the settings, right after filling the info about the rider, Decathlon’s website chooses the more appropriated bike to that specific kind of rider. From there, riders can have info about every single part of the bike. As seen before, amateurs and pros care about these very specific info, it helps them to create a link and believe in the brand they are about to invest big money.
Bikes are all about design and some people face them as design pieces, so we have to give them the opportunity to envisage how their bikes would be in several environments like their living room, garage and not only performing on the road.
Bike's info
Bike's info - scroll
Extra info - pieces
High-fidelity prototype
CONCLUSION
During my design process, I went through various articles, websites, bike shops, talked to professionals, and ultimately reinforced my knowledge related to the bicycle's world and inside the customer's heads.
I also understood that at a certain level, people look for more, and more does not necessarily mean having more products, but having a smaller range with more quality. Decathlon bikes have this quality that people are looking for, but they don’t portray it in a way customers want to see because they want to please everyone instead of a select group of riders. Not everyone is willing to spend big money if they don’t see an immediate benefit.
Bike frames are if not the most important, one of the main parts of a bike that amateurs and professional riders take into consideration before purchasing, and In a very competitive market as the road bikes, every single piece counts and make a difference in terms of weight, and aerodynamics,
for those who seek speed limits and push boundaries.
If mostly bikes frames and bike parts come from Asia, riders will buy transparency, expertise, design and recognition that also comes from word of mouth besides proof. There are many famous bike brands that never won "tour the France", but they have what it takes and sell a lot.
Also learnt, that it is important to make your website relatable to the user. They should feel welcomed and feel they can learn a lot with that specific piece of content. Design is important, but knowledge is priceless.