Domestic Sports Brand Accelerates Channel Expansion

Not long ago,

In the past six months, Anta has completed the 2/3 of the new shop opening plan this year. At the beginning of the year, XTEP announced that it had added 800-1000 stores on the basis of the original 6000 stores, mainly concentrated in the two or three tier cities in the mainland.

In addition, the company will open business at 100 overseas locations.

In the two or three line cities to speed up the horse racing enclosure, PEAK and 31st degree have disclosed the flagship store in the first tier cities in the 2009 earnings report.

In the face of Nike and Adidas, which have been ploughing the first line market for many years, the local sporting goods brand launched the strategy of "encircling the city by the countryside" after the two or three line market has gained a firm foothold, and began to enter the first tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, and tried to expand overseas.

What causes them to entrenched in the two or three line market and adopt the strategy of "encircling the cities in the countryside"? In addition to improving the stereoscopic network sales mode, the original intention of entering the first tier cities is whether there is a demand for brand internationalization behind them.

benefit

The strength of domestic sports leading brands to compete with international brands has always come from the two or three tier cities in China. This is also a unique phenomenon in the development of sports brands in China.

International brands such as Nike and Adidas entered the domestic first tier cities earlier, and now basically monopolize the industry.

The domestic brands started late, facing the almost monopolized market, they chose the strategic layout of "encircling the cities in the countryside" earlier, and took the two or three line city as their main consumer market.

Regardless of price or product, the domestic sports brands represented by Jinjiang are more easily accepted by consumers in these regions, so there is a strategic layout of domestic sports brands lacking first-line market share.

Facts have also proved that truly broad markets do exist in these areas.

In 2008, the financial turmoil swept the world. The high-end price of international brands was obviously less competitive than the low price of domestic brands. This also led to the development of a large number of Jinjiang sporting goods brands under the help of the capital market.

The earnings of several sports brands in Fujian in the last fiscal year pointed out that the rapid growth of the two or three tier cities has made them the biggest beneficiaries of the sports apparel market, and their performance will remain better.

In the annual reports of Anta and XTEP, we can clearly see that the profit contribution rate of the two or three line market is over 50%.

However, after stabilizing the two or three tier cities, entering the first tier cities is the inevitable choice for the development of the international sports brand market and the expansion of development space after the development of the domestic sports brands headed by the Fujian department.

Penetrate the high-end market

"The competitive advantage on the channel shows that Anta is laying a solid foundation and meeting consumers in a more perfect distribution network layout," said Zhang Tao, vice president of Anta. "On the other hand, it also proves the consumer identity of Anta brand. The premise of mass opening shops is consumers' recognition of Anta brand and the increasing demand for Anta products."

He also said that at present, the competitiveness of domestic sporting goods enterprises is very close. Competition is mainly focused on brand building and channel construction. Therefore, channel competition can determine the competition pattern to a certain extent.

With the gradual entry of Anta and XTEP into the first-line market, they will surely face up to the famous sports brands around the world. This also means that the domestic sporting goods brand is trying to compete for the high-end market share.

As of June 30th this year, Anta brand has opened 353 stores in Shanghai and Beijing, and 20% of Lining's 6809 stores are located in the first tier cities. According to PEAK CEO Xu Zhihua, PEAK now has 80 stores in Shanghai, plus Beijing, Shenzhen, and three stores, reaching more than 200 stores, and this figure will continue to expand.

Lining, CEO, a sports consultancy, said: "at present, 20% of the sales of Lining are from the first-line market, and the first tier cities are of great significance to Lining, PEAK and PEAK.

But Fujian's sports brand is slightly inferior in the first tier market. "

Zhang Qing said that one way to enhance the brand image is to set up stores in Shanghai and Beijing's core business circle. The effect is immediate. And the Jinjiang department brand after capital injection is fully capable, not only in capital but also in professional teams, which can support a large number of stores in the first tier cities.

Promoting internationalization

After gaining a firm foothold in the domestic market, some of Quanzhou's sports brands have begun to reach overseas in recent years.

Quanzhou, Macao, Taiwan and Southeast Asian markets, which are not far off the geographical location, become the bridgeheads for overseas expansion of sports shoes brands.

Following the signing of the Premier League by XTEP, Ding Shuibo, President of the company, said that apart from the established domestic shop plan, the company will also open business at 100 overseas locations.

In June this year, XTEP (China) Co., Ltd. officially opened in the downtown area of Wanhua District, Taipei. This indicates that the first independent sports brand store in Taipei has settled in Fujian, and the garment enterprises in Taiwan have taken an important step in expanding the Taiwan market.

Xu Jingnan, chairman of PEAK group, also said he would consider opening the PEAK store to Eastern Europe after the inspection in Eastern Europe.

"There is a gap between Eastern European market and Western European market because of the level of consumption, which is very suitable for domestic brands to infiltrate Europe."

The reasons for the movement of local sports brands are not difficult to explain. XTEP's signing of the Premier League and PEAK's hand in hand NBA show that domestic brands have begun to integrate and use the global marketing communication resources.

Analysts believe that "at the early stage, the purpose of integrating domestic brands with international marketing resources is to enhance brand's brand advantage in the country, and to effectively carry out local market competition by signing international marketing resources. However, with the further strengthening of these brands' competitiveness, it is necessary to take into consideration the effective export of brands while maximizing the use of these international marketing communication resources, and the opening of Chinese brands to overseas stores is the inevitable result of the development of these brand strategies."