'nolhtaceD': Decathlon reverses name in three Belgian cities; cites unique reason

Agencies |Brussels

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

In a bid to promote reverse shopping, sporting goods giant Decathlon has decided to reverse its name for a month. Now, three cities in Belgium will have stores with a board that will read "nolhtaceD".

Decathlon shops in three Belgian cities — Evere, Namur, and Ghent, have changed their names.

The company took to Instagram to announce the change in name and wrote:

"This month Decathlon becomes nolhtaceD ... because a Buyback action, is like shopping in reverse, right?"

'Decathlon' written backwards is "nolhtaceD", and the company believes that this marketing move would encourage people to indulge in "reverse shopping".

Reverse shopping, here, refers to customers reselling old or unused sporting goods back to the store, after which the company will then repair the item, and resell these in some form, under warranty. The move is aimed at promoting environment-friendly practices.

Another important aspect of this move is that the sports retailer isn't just accepting goods purchased from them, but from other sports shops as well.

Decathlon is a French sporting goods retailer with more than 1,600 stores across the globe, which was launched in 1976 by Michel Leclercq.

Following the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February this year, many foreign businesses, mainly Western ones, abandoned Russia.

Decathlon, however, declared that it would continue with business as usual, drawing harsh criticism and boycott from customers, but on March 29, Decathlon made the announcement that it had stopped doing business in Russia, and shut down all of its locations there.