XTEP's "Sandwich" Embarrassment XTEP's Brand Strategy "Fashion Campaign"

In the following ten years, or even more than ten years, XTEP has taken the first step in the market of China's sports apparel market. In the future, whether we can break through from the second camp and succeed in the first group is still unknown.

Sustainability in doubt

Money can not solve all problems, but it can make the solution of the problem more calming. After Lining took out real gold and silver from his pocket, XTEP followed the example of "big brother".

Recently, XTEP International Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as XTEP) is composed of 8 Banks and has been signed by Hang Seng Bank Limited as a syndicate authorized to coordinate the arrangement of persons and financing agents. The sum is HK $140 million 400 thousand and US $82 million (equivalent to HK $780 million) for a period of 3 years.

According to XTEP's official account, the amount will provide the necessary operating capital for the group's future business to achieve sustained growth. XTEP will be able to do what it wants to do more easily, which is XTEP's dream all along.

Ding Shuibo, President of XTEP, once said no doubt that he wanted to be "China Puma", and walked along the road of cross fashion and sports clothing brand. Although in China, it was an unknown road without any experience. In the Chinese market at that time, even Nike and Adidas were only occasionally appearing in several dark blue shoes. White, black, gray and other monochromatic products firmly occupied the mainstream of the market.

Now, perhaps more people will praise Lao Ding's foresight and recognition, and praise the wise man for planning a most suitable path for XTEP to survive. However, in fact, there is a bit of helplessness in it. In China's sports apparel market, the horse racing enclosure is almost completed, leaving no room for the latecomers.

Nike and Adidas have obvious advantages in the professional sports equipment of high-end market, no matter from professional level or market awareness, they are not comparable to Chinese sports brands; local brand bigwigs, Lining and Anta are also fighting on the road of becoming professional brand image.

In order to break through quickly and get a share of the cake, XTEP had to voluntarily abandon the professional sports market and position itself in the field of fashion sports.

Obviously, such strategies accurately hit the market demand. In 2001, XTEP hired Nicholas Tse, the then Heavenly King artist of Hongkong, as the brand spokesperson and image ambassador of nearly 5 million yuan each year, and publicized the brand promotion by entertainment marketing. The most representative product "beacon fire shoes" has also become famous at the foot of the giant star war, and its annual sales volume has still been so shocking 1 million 200 thousand pairs.

XTEP's performance in Hongkong, which has been on the market for many years, is on the bright side. In 2011, the total revenue of XTEP group reached 5 billion 539 million 600 thousand yuan, an increase of 24% compared with the same period last year. The income of XTEP brand products increased by 28% yuan to 5 billion 374 million 900 thousand yuan, and the gross profit margin of the group increased by 0.2 percentage point to 40.8%. Under the background of the overall economic slowdown, the net profit 18.77% growth rate was ranked first among the five largest local sports brands.

"XTEP's strategy has been very successful and its marketing has been very successful. In the near future, XTEP will enter the international market, and it will get a good growth. " Xia Jinhua, chairman of Beijing Huaqi Century Consulting Co. Ltd., said that XTEP has found its advantages in a country that seems to love sports and does not have a high level of sports lifestyle.

But, "the market is changing, so it is difficult to assess the sustainability of the advantages." Ma Gang, an independent critic of shoe and clothing industry, affirmed XTEP's courage to break through and explore bravely, but also told XTEP's worries to new financial reporters. Fashion sports don't look so perfect.

Embarrassment of "sandwich"

Generally speaking, sports brands can be divided into two major camps: one is the sports brand which is mainly professional sports equipment represented by Nike, Adidas, Lining, Anta, and the other is the fashion sports brand featuring fashion elements and entertainment stars as brand characteristics, including kappa, Puma and XTEP.

In the mature market, the former achieved much more than the latter, while the sports market is not mature enough, so far, the brand advantage of professional sports can not be seen.

"Fashion movement must be firmly established in the sphere of sports, otherwise it will easily fall into the sea of leisure products." Beijing CEO, a key sports consulting firm, told New Financial reporters that XTEP's brand strategy may not be clear enough.

Zhang Qing's evidence is that XTEP's 10th anniversary celebration not long ago was mentioned by Ding Shuibo.

"Some people say that the sports consumption demand of Chinese consumers is insufficient, which is not enough to support the professional sports market. But how can we explain that in the Chinese market, Nike is more expensive, more professional and better performing than you? "Zhang Qing believes that the real reason for the strong movement in the domestic market lies in the fact that" many manufacturers can not predict when China's sporting goods market will be synchronized with that of the country, so that both sides of the product will exert their strength to meet the needs of professional consumers and to cater to the needs of fashion consumers. "

However, fish and bear's paws are hard to get together. The fashion orientation is to win some fashionable young people's favor, but at the same time, it will lose more or less the share of professional sports market. Therefore, "if the enterprise is not firmly established in the scope of sports, it will surely fall into a vast ocean of leisure." In Zhang Qing's view, apart from Anta, PEAK, Jordan and so on less than ten large enterprises engaged in professional sports marketing, other sports brands almost advertised as "fashion sports brand".

More importantly, whether the relatively high-end high-end fashion ZARA, UNIQLO and other foreign brands, or Metersbonwe and other domestic local enterprises, will be strong competitors in the field. "Because these brands will face many thresholds when they choose to enter the professional sports field, but their thresholds in the field are relatively low."

"The embarrassment of fashion movement is that it is subjected to multiple extrusion of integrated sports and leisure and even fast fashion brands." Ma Gang has similar views. The so-called fashion movement, between leisure and sports, it is difficult to grasp accurately. How to ensure that products are not replaced or marginalized by leisure brands and comprehensive sports brands is a problem that enterprises always have to face.

Even the old red Kappa was troubled. After a long period of popularity, when the big pattern printing was no longer popular, Kappa's trend also weakened. Even though kappa's fashion and personality still exist, its replicable personality and emotional appeal of marketing are more superficial than fashion. It can instantly jump into the streets and streets overnight, and can also be abandoned by fashion and abandoned by the public in an instant.

Another reality that has to be faced is that the fashion advocated by local fashion sports brands has been discounted to some extent. "For local sports brands, fashion is a very general concept. Leisure is also right, life is also right; it can be either an adjective or a noun." Ma Gang believes that the fashion movement advocated by the local sports brand is not clear in fact, and there is far from the fineness of the international bigwigs.

Taking Puma as an example, it divides the consumers according to the sensitivity of the tidal current, and then attacks the core fashion crowd from the products, to the brand story, the communication performance, and to the people who are most sensitive to the fashion trend. In contrast, domestic enterprises, including XTEP, are more focused on the so-called popular fashion line, and have not yet seen the determination and posture to exert themselves to the core fashion crowd. To a certain extent, "public" and "fashion" may be somewhat "twisted".

"The real fashion should be the creation and the leadership trend, and the fashion movement is in this domain, has the charm to drive the consumer. Unfortunately, a considerable number of enterprises are just grasping the fashion trend, or catering to the trend, adding fuel to the flames, and lack of creativity. So is XTEP. Ma Gang said.

It can be seen that the ultimate dream of XTEP's pledge to become the "first brand of the global fashion movement" is not necessarily impossible. However, nature is not an easy task, nor is it a short-term matter.