In October, Belgian residents earned a total of €154,000 by selling their unused sports equipment to 'Nolhtaced', the temporary new (reversed) name of Decathlon, with particular success in the Brussels-Capital Region and Wallonia.
Decathlon Belgium changed its name to 'Nolhtaced' on 10 October to draw attention to its "reverse shopping" initiative: people can now sell their old or unused sports equipment to the store, which will then repair and resell it second-hand (at a lower price) and with a guarantee.
"As a society, we need to change our consumption patterns. Reverse shopping can help. Anyone who brings sports gear into Decathlon receives a voucher in exchange, which they can use for two years, including for our second-hand offer or our rental service," said Nolhtaced Belgium's sustainability manager Joeri Moons.
"This way, we encourage the reuse of products as much as possible and remain responsible for the full life cycle of our products," he added, underlining that the sports store chain has already bought back 10,800 products from customers in 35 Decathlon shops since 10 October.
Increasingly eager to buy
Clothing, sports accessories, bicycles and shoes are brought in most often, with Brussels and Walloon residents, in particular, being fans of this way of reverse shopping.
The shops in the Walloon city of Namur and the Brussels municipality of Evere brought in the most products. In Namur, some 2,600 items were sold, worth over €24,450 in total. In Evere, people brought in some 1,096 items (good for almost €13,500) that are now getting a new life as second-hand items.
On top of that, the store also noticed that people are not only bringing in a lot of products to sell but are also increasingly on board to buy second-hand sports equipment themselves: of the 10,800 sports articles handed in, the chain was already able to sell more than 20% through its second-hand offer. Half of those items sold were bicycles.
Related News
During the week of 28 November, Nolhtaced will disappear from the streetscape: the banners on the facades of its shops in Evere, Namur and Ghent will be removed and upcycled into bags that the sports store chain will use to safely transport products from its rental range.
However, Nolhtaced becoming Decathlon again does not mean the buy-back campaign will stop: anyone will be able to continue selling old or unused sports gear in all 35 Decathlon shops in Belgium.
