Lining, A Brand Shoe Maker, Struggles In The US Market

Lining, the Chinese athlete, won the world's attention at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He held the torch high at the opening ceremony, flying over the National Stadium (NationalStadium), showing both China's ambitions and his first class global sports.

Lining held the torch high and flew over the National Stadium.

3 years later, Lining has returned to the ground, and his Li Ning Co (LiNingCo.) has made a big profit by signing several high-profile spokesmen such as basketball star Shaquille O'neal (ShaquilleO) Neal, which has seen a drop in profits, and has experienced a great loss of designers and employees in Portland, Portland.

The company's share price has also made a substantial response, which has dropped 63% this year, far exceeding the total 29% of the Hongkong market.

The Li Ning Co issue highlights the difficulties faced by Chinese companies in building new global brands that match their manufacturing capabilities.

Some companies have made progress, such as Lenovo Group (LenovoGroupLtd.), but it has benefited a lot from IBM (InternationalBusinessMachineCorp.) PC computer business in 2005.

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Most companies haven't made much progress. They have to face the sophisticated global.

In China, Lining brand ranked third in sports apparel companies after Nike (Nike) and Adidas (Adidas).

Now, the 22 year old sports clothing company based in Beijing is adjusting its practices in the US market.

Lei Xiaoshan, the founder of China Market Research Group (ChinaMarketResearchGroup), a consultancy in Shanghai, says the problem is that they are much less at home when they open up overseas markets.

Lining and other executives refused to be interviewed, they said in a statement. "We are still going all out to develop the Lining brand."

But Li Ning Co, a new American partner, is planning to re open the US market in the name of Lining DigitalLi-NingCo., which will first focus on online sales before the planned physical store opens.

GeorgeLu, President of Digital Corporation Lining, said: "we plan to plan and analyze online data in order to understand the US market before expanding further.

We hope this brand can establish some connection with Americans.

The Li Ning Co disclosed this new attempt on Monday. The redesigned company on the US website said it was "the biggest brand you have never heard of."

Lining won 6 medals in gymnastics at the 1984 Losangeles Olympic Games, 3 of which were gold medals, one of the most famous athletes in China, but his company in the United States was hard to expand its awareness.

According to analysts at Barclays Bank (Barclays), too many inventories have led to many discounted sales of Lining retail outlets, which frustrated Lining's ambition to compete with Nike.

Li Ning Co's profits in the first half of 2011 fell by nearly 50% compared with a year ago, which is the latest measure of the company's performance.

Revenue in the first half of this year dropped by nearly 5%, to 4 billion 300 million yuan, or about 678 million dollars.

The company did not disclose US sales figures.

Previously, Li Ning Co's initiatives to open up the US market include O'neal (the BostonCeltics, who was the last team to retire) and the EvanTurner of Philadelphia's 76 man team (Philadelphia76ers), as endorsement by Philadelphia76ers.

4 years ago, it opened a global design center in Portland. It is not far from Nike's headquarters in Beaverton (Beaverton), and designs shoes for the American market.

Two years later, the company opened a display area in Portland.

An employee of Li Ning Co said that the company is trying to find its own market position, and has entered into a sales agreement with many Badminton Clubs in the United States, and even added a ping-pong ball room in the exhibition area to attract new customers.

Last year, Li Ning Co also reached an agreement with FootLockerInc. to allow ChampsSports of its other subsidiary to bring Lining products into the market.

But the operation of Portland's front office has been difficult. About half of the 30 designers and other employees who design tennis shoes and clothing for the US market are leaving this year.

Li Ning Co executives declined to comment on the matter.

The new Lining Digital Corporation is a joint venture with Acquity group. It is a brand consultancy and private equity firm in Chicago.

At the beginning of this year, the company signed a joint venture agreement with Li Ning Co, and Li Ning Co accounted for 20% of the shares in the new company.

The Li Ning Co terminated the distribution agreement with Champs and FootLocker and reclaimed the management rights of its website.

It is not clear how GeorgeLu's initiatives are combined with the Li Ning Co's attempt in Portland. The Li Ning Co employees said the two representatives of Li Ning Co had their own booth at the trade fair.

Li Ning Co executives say the expansion to the US market is experimental, in order to explore the needs of American consumers.

GeorgeLu said he has hired 20 employees to design a new image for Li Ning Co, which aims to enable Americans to understand the eastern culture's understanding of nature, balance and brain body connection.

He also designed his own product line and did not sell it in the exhibition area of Portland.

Today, on the Li Ning Co website, a pair of men's running shoes, priced at $80, are made of mesh materials and can "adapt to natural gait".

The lotus pattern yoga pants are priced at $55, which is suitable for making "accurate posture" and, of course, dressing for coffee after exercise is also appropriate.

According to GeorgeLu's plan, American consumers can understand Lining brand in O'neal's community activities and sporting goods stores.

Lei Xiaoshan, a China market research group, said that joint ventures may be the right move for Li Ning Co. Multinational companies such as McDonald sCorp. and Starbucks (StarbucksCorp.) are looking for different companies to cooperate in developing their businesses overseas to avoid risks.

Earlier this year, Starbucks bought its joint venture partner from China's joint venture partner Maxim's Caterers Limited (Maxim 'sCaterersLtd.), thus owning all ownership of Starbucks's retail outlets in China's six largest regions.