Outdoor Branding Competition Moves To Asian Market

Nowadays, the competition of major professional sports brands in the world is becoming more and more intense. Nike MaCaw Mick, executive director of the Columbia sportswear brand, said it will be outdoors in the future. brand The competition will be shifted from the European market to Asia.

Rising sales of outdoor clothing in China, Japan and Korea

Due to the increasing popularity of mountaineering in Japan, the apparel industry is creating a trend of outdoor fashion apparel, and the scale of outdoor sporting goods market is expanding rapidly. The land area is only 25% of Japan (about 100 thousand square kilometers), and the growth rate of the Korean outdoor goods market, which is only 40% of Japan's population (49 million people), is also increasing year by year. Sales of outdoor products in the country have been growing at an annual rate of 10%~30%, and surpassed the first place in Europe in 2000 by ~2010 in mid year, becoming the second largest outdoor consumer country in the world. At present, the outdoor goods market in Korea has reached 200 billion yen (about 16 billion 600 million yuan), and is the largest outdoor consumer market in Asia.

Columbia, the world famous outdoor sportswear brand, grew by 20% in 2010. Its sales in Asia Pacific and South America reached 965 million US dollars, with a growth rate of 32%. After 10 years of growth, the Asian market has surpassed sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the first time. In 2010, its sales volume reached US $700 million, an increase of 53%. Now Asia has become the most important sales market of the company.

Statistics show that the Asian outdoor goods market centered on Korea, Japan and China is accelerating. The market size of these three countries is 200 billion yen (about 16 billion 600 million yuan), Japan 120 billion yen (about 10 billion yuan), and China 50 billion yen (about 4 billion 200 million yuan). Although the annual sales volume of China, Japan and South Korea is not as high as that of 730 billion yen (60 billion 800 million yuan) in Europe, the annual growth rate of the three countries has increased steadily. The increase in 2010 is 10% in Korea, 50% in Japan and 50% in China.

Top brands seize market share

After seeing the growth potential of the Asian market, European and American outdoor brand enterprises have speeded up their investment in Asia. Lafuma, a famous brand with MILLET and other famous brands, sold its registered brand Lafuma to Korea LG group. Gore-tex, the top brand of waterproof clothing, also said that Asia will become the largest market for outdoor clothing sales in the world.

At present, the Korean sporting goods market is undergoing a sweeping reshuffle. GOLDWIN, a Japanese clothing brand in South Korea, said that changes in lifestyles in South Korea are driving the demand for sportswear in the Korean market. The joint venture between the brand and Young One Corporation of Korea is now the largest outdoor goods company in Korea.

KEEN, a former Asia Pacific sales representative who worked in the Patagonia brand Japan branch, said that although the market conditions and characteristics of these three Asian countries are different, the growth process is very similar to that of the other countries. Consumers now attach more importance to the opportunity of life quality to contact with nature. This lifestyle change is the key to opening the Asian outdoor products market. Mark, President of the European Federation of outdoor products (EOG), said that European outdoors manufacturers attached great importance to the Asian market.

THE NORTH FACE sales in Korea in 2010 reached 500 billion won (about 3 billion yuan), an increase of two figures. A company spokesman said that the driving force behind its growth comes from strict quality, superior functionality and the pursuit of high value-added consumers. The brand has now become the sportswear brand that surpasses Nike and Adidas in the Korean market.