Adidas'S Expansion Plan To Catch Up With Nike Lining In China

The German sporting goods manufacturer announced on 16 th that it will open 500 new stores in China next year, and will increase its product distribution destination from 500 cities to 2500 cities as of 2015.

New stores based on Adidas's advanced clothing series will be set up in larger cities, where many consumers prefer their biggest global competitor, Nike Inc..

Adidas hopes to touch more high-end consumers in China. They live in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai and spend more on clothing than people living in two or three tier cities.

Gao Jiali, Adidas's senior vice president of marketing and sales, said that Adidas will also try new strategies in the saturated market of sports products stores, and Adidas will design stores based on products that target consumers are interested in, Colin Currie.

Adidas, chief executive of Herbert Hainer, said in an interview that China is an important market for us, and consumers want to contact our products.

After one and a half years of decline in the Chinese market, Adidas has been trying to regain its presence.

According to Frost & Sullivan, a market research firm, in 2009, Nike and Lining occupied 10.2% and 10% respectively, and Adidas accounted for 9.6% of China's 93 billion yuan (14 billion dollars) sports apparel market.

Haina said that we are working on a plan to win first.

In the three months to September 30th, Adidas's income increased to 3 billion 470 million euros from 2 billion 880 million euros in the same period last year, an increase of 20%, partly thanks to the world cup.

Sales in China rose by 9%.

In the same period, the company's net profit increased from 213 million euros to 266 million euros, an increase of 25%.

In order to gain a wider popularity, Adidas is also ready to strengthen its development in basketball. Usually, its investment in basketball is not as good as that of its competitors.

Adidas executives say basketball will be integrated into marketing campaigns and product design rather than specific basketball players.

Some analysts say the strategy is designed to encroach on Nike's inherent territory. Nike has a large number of NBA celebrity endorsements, including Miami Heat star James (LeBron James).

Lining is also using the same strategy, and recently signed a multi million dollar sponsorship agreement with Philadelphia 76ers star Turner. The company has signed a sponsorship agreement with O'neal (Shaquille O&apos) Neal of Philadelphia Boston Celtics and several other star players in Boston Boston.

Lamberg, an analyst at HSBC (HSBC), said you might say that this is "follow suit", but if you want to develop in the sports products market in China, you must take the advantage of basketball in the Erwan market. "Erwan"

Adidas also hopes to enhance its popularity through the rising amateur athletes in China.

In October, Adidas became a sponsor of the Beijing marathon in 2010. This is the first time that it has sponsored a running competition in China.

According to Adidas, there will also be sponsorship for more running events.

The company also works with fitness chain stores to provide clothing for fitness trainers, and to buy advertising space above dressing rooms and treadmills.

At the same time, we also consider selling clothing in stores in fitness centers.

Small cities are still important for Adidas, because the population of these cities is a new force for China's expanding middle class.

In these markets, Adidas will further launch NEO, a leisure brand aimed at young people.

The brand is half the price of other Adidas brands. The company hopes that the brand will become a bridge to guide consumers to high-end products.

E-commerce will also play a larger role in the company's growth strategy.

In August, Adidas worked with Taobao, China's largest Internet retailer and Alibaba group, to open a Taobao online store.

Adidas said that the sales volume of online stores is still relatively small, but Internet shopping is booming in China, making the website an important marketing channel.

The company plans to sell 500 million euros ($681 million) in Internet sales as of 2015.

North America is still the largest market for Adidas, and the retail sales increased by 14% in the third quarter of 2010.

Haina said China is unlikely to overtake the US in the next five years.

Haina said, what you see is that we are growing rapidly in China, and there is no need to worry about where we will go in the future.