French sporting giant, Decathlon, has continued its push into Australasia by announcing the location of its first Aussie store.

The brand is one of the world’s largest sporting retailers, often likened to the Ikea of sporting goods, and originates from France, with 1200 stores across the globe in 30 countries and 80,000 staff worldwide.

Decathlon has already implemented an e-commerce offering in the region earlier this year, with a warehouse designed to support product distribution across ANZ.

Linked to its retail website, the logistics hub is also being used to deliver orders to customers in New Zealand via a direct courier service that takes at least seven working days.

Set to disrupt the market with its own brands and low-cost products, Decathlon’s Australian launch is likely to challenge known Australian retailers. “We are very excited to announce the arrival of our flagship Australian store in Tempe, Sydney which will open in October and sit alongside Ikea,” said Olivier Robinet, Australian CEO for Decathlon.

“Australians are some of the most active people in the world, the whole country is like a playground. But at the moment, many Australians have to spend hundreds of dollars to get a quality product.”

The sports giant houses over 70 sports and offers over 7,000 models of different products.

“Our priority is to offer a low-cost product that matches up to the big name brand competitors in quality,” said Robinet.

“We are also great innovators. We have research and development facilities all over France to develop the latest innovative designs, registering up to 40 patents per year.

Robinet said the retailer will look to open more stores in 2018 with further openings in Melbourne and other cities.