From Physical Product to Augmented Experience

Context
Decathlon set itself an ambitious challenge: creating the digital passport for bikes. The starting point was a unique identifier embedded directly in the bike, ensuring traceability and protecting against theft. But the ambition went much further: leveraging this technology to build an ecosystem of services around the bike, moving beyond the traditional retail model.
We were involved from the very beginning: exploring opportunities linked to digital identification, and later scaling the product passport internationally. The goal was to extend the lifecycle of bikes (repairs, spare parts, insurance), maintain a simple and continuous relationship with customers after purchase, and unlock new sources of revenue for the brand.
Challenges
- Designing a product at the crossroads of multiple disciplines: physical product design, logistics, traceability, and digital services.
- Synchronizing the very different development cycles of digital and physical products.
- Building a sustainable business model for a product offered free of charge.
- Managing complex, multinational content that required local adaptation.
- Harmonizing service offerings across countries to ensure a consistent customer experience.
Our approach
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Exploring opportunities
We conducted extensive exploration work in close collaboration with local teams: interviews, market research, and analysis of existing initiatives across countries. This allowed us to map the scope of possibilities and clarify the potential of the digital passport.
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Structuring and launching the team
We set up a dedicated team, defining its budget, organization, and connections with Decathlon’s broader ecosystem.
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Projecting revenue potential
Through structured hypotheses, we assessed the value creation potential of the passport—repairs, insurance, spare parts—to demonstrate business relevance and guide priorities.
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Product governance and delivery
We defined the roadmap, ensured alignment between physical product and digital services teams, and steered the product’s delivery with rigor.
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Coaching and evangelizing
Beyond delivery, we helped the teams evolve their product practices to set the project up for lasting success.
Our impact
- Over 700,000 bikes equipped with a digital passport sold since launch.
- Deployment across 32 countries already achieved.
- A pioneering initiative within Decathlon, paving the way for extending the product passport to other categories and markets.
- A dedicated passport team created and structured (now six people), working coherently despite belonging to different parts of Decathlon’s organization.
Thiga
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