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Saucy solution to sports chain's sales spike
A Hollywood answer to Decathlon's mysterious jump in sales of horse-riding equipment
Sporting goods chain Decathlon has finally solved a sales mystery stretching back a number months - and the answer involves a Hollywood film.
A sudden and apparently inexplicable spike in the sale of whips - but no other horse-riding equipment - raised a few eyebrows at Decathlon headquarters … until the team realised that the jump in sales coincided with the release in France of erotic romantic drama 50 Darker Shades, first at cinemas and then on DVD and Blu-ray.
It would seem that the film caught more than a few imaginations...
The store revealed the results of their internal study in a tweet that quickly went viral.
Il y a quelques mois, on a remarqué une hausse de nos ventes de cravaches. On a analysé nos chiffres pour essayer de comprendre d'où ça pouvait venir. Puis on s'est rendu compte que ça coïncidait exactement avec la sortie de "50 nuances plus sombres".
— Decathlon (@Decathlon) March 26, 2018
Et c'est même pas une vanne.
50 Darker Shades sees Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan reprise their roles as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey from the 2015 box office hit 50 Shades of Grey.
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