France – French Sporting giant Decathlon would likely to open first of stores in Australia in 2017. It has gone online in Australia and launched its website to begin with online format in April. Australian sports lovers can now order product for over 35 sports by the click of the mouse.

To cut the lead time, Decathlon brought stock closer to customers by opening an e-commerce warehouse, designed to support product distribution across Australia. Linked to the online retail website, the logistics hub will soon deliver orders to customers in neighboring New Zealand also.

Decathlon site has not mentioned any confirmed dates of opening the first store in Australia and says ‘currently looking into various options’, but Australian media reports suggests French sports retailer has already identified two locations suitable for large format stores in Sydney and Melbourne by the end of 2016.

Decathlon’s entry into Australia would hot-up the market for domestic sporting goods retailers dominated by Rebel Sports, Amart, Sports Power, Kmart & Big W.

Decathlon is the biggest sporting goods retailer in the world, registered turnover of $14 billion last year. Thirty-five percent of the retailer’s turnover came from its home market France, while the bulk of its revenue – 65% – came from overseas outlets.

Sports retailer is most popular in China having158 stores followed by Spain & Italy.

It has 1031 stores around the world, 60 per cent of its sales comes from the private label items.

Overall, it employs more than 70,000 people worldwide.

Decathlon opens first store in Slovenia

On 16 April, the first Decathlon store opened in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, selling products for activities such as hiking, cycling, hunting, fishing and team sports. A second store could open in the Slovenia by the end of the year.