Interview with Frederic Oudeville from Decathlon and Kuikma

Let’s meet today with Mr Frederic Oudeville, padel director at Decathlon, the occasion to also talk about their racket brand Kuikma.

 

Frederic, could you please introduce yourself and your position at Decathlon?

Originally, I am a tennis player. I did not succeed to turn professional but it allowed me to go get a scholarship in a university in the US and to join Decathlon. I have been working for Decathlon for 28 years now and I am director of Padel since 2017. It means I am responsible for the Decathlon offer you can find in stores and online for Europe. I am also the director of Kuikma. It is the exclusive brand of Decathlon for padel that we launched in 2019.

Our office is in Madrid, the world center for Padel, in a padel club to be very close to the players and their needs.

How does Decathlon envision the growth of padel globally in the next five years?

After a situation of extrastock these last couple of years, we are really confident in the future growth of the Padel market.

We still have a strong potential of growth in many countries. I think France, UK and Germany will push a lot in the coming years.

What role does Kuikma play within Decathlon’s broader sports brand ecosystem?

Padel is not the biggest sport at Decathlon as you can imagine. We are far from sports like hiking, fitness or biking for example. But Decathlon is conscious that it is one of the fastest growing sport in the world. It is also a “fashion sport” that brings a fresh image to the company.

What steps is Kuikma taking to differentiate itself within the increasingly competitive padel market?

First, as a Decathlon brand, we have the objective to make the difference with “value for money”. We want to make the sport accessible for every player: from the beginner to the top player. We work on the performance of every product to respond to the needs of every player and we also try to be really demanding with durability.

Can you describe the current collection of Kuikma’s rackets?

We have a very complete collection now: We can fully equip a padel player: rackets, shoes, balls, accessories, bags and textile. We can also respond to all levels of players. Our professional players are playing with all our products and they are very happy about their performances.

What are the key factors or player feedback that influence your padel equipment designs?

Being demanding with our products is the key. We organize tests in usage with a strong protocol and we cross with the test in the laboratory. We also pay a lot of attention to the feedback of our customers. We are lucky, for every product to have a lot of them in our website and we use them a lot.

Are there any new technologies or innovations from Kuikma we can expect soon?

We are working on integrating recycled carbon in our rackets, making sure that we can increase the performance and the durability. It is a very exciting project.

What trends in consumer behavior have you observed in padel over the past couple of years?

I would mention sustainability. I really think players, in the future, will not accept throwing their rackets or their balls to the bin, without having the possibility to repair them.

How do you adapt Kuikma’s marketing strategy to appeal to different types of padel players, from beginners to advanced, and how many padel rackets sold in 2024?

In the future, we will try to communicate who we are and what we do. Few people know that we have: Product managers, designers and engineers. We do not communicate enough how we organize our tests. We will also work with external laboratories to prove the performance of our products and their durability.

These figures are confidential but we are really happy about the quantities sold last year.

What’s Kuikma’s approach to sponsorships and partnerships with professional padel players or tournaments?

To ensure the best value for money, we have to be really selective with our sponsoring strategy. We are lucky to have our products visible thanks to our Decathlon stores so our unique objective is the credibility aspect.

Are there plans to further expand Kuikma’s presence in the professional padel?

We just need to have a couple of top players to prove that our products are performant. The personality of our players is really important and needs to match with the values of Decathlon. It is a key point. So we target the quality and not the quantity :-). We are really happy with Maxi and Lucia today. They give us a lot of feedback to improve our products.

Where do you see Kuikma’s biggest growth opportunities in the coming years?

We have a big opportunity on the top level products. I really think that we can prove and convince a lot of players about the performance of products. Then, the value for money will make the difference.

To finish, what’s your personal vision or ambition for padel within Decathlon and beyond?

My dream is to bring real value to the padel players. We do not want to copy other brands, we want to bring them something unique, in order to promote the sport and respect our planet.