Hong Kong – Decathlon China and Tencent Smart Retail are collaborating to explore applications of artificial intelligence (AI) across retail operations, including consumer engagement, employee collaboration, business decision-making, and store management.
The two companies announced the work in Hong Kong on 27 October 2026, with a focus on consumer services, business decision support and employee productivity. Tencent Smart Retail is the retail service of Tencent Cloud, while Decathlon China is part of the global multi-sport, multi-specialist company.
Decathlon says it reaches consumers through physical stores, e-commerce platforms, membership programmes and sports communities. The company describes its digital transformation as both a technology upgrade and a way to improve consumer experiences and operational efficiency.
Xiao Lu, Executive Vice President of Decathlon China, said, “The rapidly evolving digital ecosystem in the Chinese Mainland, coupled with rising consumer expectations for service experiences, is driving enterprises to continuously strengthen their digital capabilities. At the same time, AI is becoming an important driver of operational efficiency, deeper business insights and enhanced consumer experiences.”
He then outlined three areas where Decathlon is advancing AI adoption, beginning with consumer experience. There, the company aims to engage consumers more effectively and match products, inventory and service information more accurately.
The second area is business decision-making, where AI helps teams process and analyse information, and identify market trends. The third is employee productivity, with AI assistants retrieving and consolidating information and generating meeting summaries.
Beyond those priorities, Decathlon says it wants partners with strengths in local digital ecosystems, retail expertise and AI capabilities. Lu added that Tencent’s understanding of China’s digital ecosystem, and the synergies among WeCom, the WeChat ecosystem and Tencent Cloud, have laid a foundation for the partnership.
Lu also noted that both parties have kept their attention on business needs. They validate AI applications in practical business scenarios before gradually extending them to other areas of the business.
Speaking about the collaboration, Lu, emphasised, “For Decathlon, both digital transformation and AI adoption are ultimately about serving consumers better. Through our continued collaboration with Tencent Smart Retail, we seek to harness technology not only to enhance employee productivity and strengthen team collaboration, but also to deepen our understanding of consumer needs and continuously improve the consumer experience. Looking ahead, we will further expand the application of AI across consumer services, employee collaboration and operational management, driving innovation throughout the business and delivering greater value to consumers.”
Tencent Smart Retail also commented on the direction of the work. Terry Li, Vertical General Manager of Tencent Smart Retail, said, “The retail industry is rapidly entering a new era of intelligent development powered by data and AI. As consumer journeys and purchasing behaviors continue to evolve, enterprises need more effective ways to engage consumers, improve operational efficiency and unlock the value of data.”
“We are delighted to work with Decathlon China to explore innovative AI applications across retail scenarios. Moving forward, Tencent Smart Retail will continue to build on its strengths in cloud, AI, data and ecosystem capabilities to help enterprises transform innovation into tangible business value, enhance consumer experiences and support the high-quality development of the retail industry,” Li continued.
