Why Do Commercial Sports Brands Dive Collectively

Even Nike has encountered problems in the Chinese market. Different from many international brands, Nike's global market revenue increased while the Chinese market shrank. According to Nike's performance in the second fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2013, the revenue in Greater China fell by 11% to $577 million, while the global revenue increased by 7% to $5.96 billion.

However, sports brands are not facing a shrinking consumption market. Last year, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 14.3% year on year. Consumers spend more money, but sports brands do not earn more. What is the problem?

A large amount of inventory is the main factor that has plagued sports brands in recent years - the disposal of inventory has affected both brand profits and sales of new products. However, inventory is only the surface, and the whole domestic sports brands are forced to make a difficult transition - in the past few years, they can expand their business scale rapidly through simple wholesale and channel expansion, while they have not accumulated enough basic capabilities such as brand, consumer understanding, product focus, supply chain management, etc. Now, the whole sporting goods industry is making up for the past.

Changes in consumers In recent years, all industries are faced with the problem of changes in consumers' tastes, and the youth of sports goods consumers makes the problem more acute. Today's young people are completely new consumers, which is another way of existence. In recent years, with the popularization of intelligent terminals and applications, the younger generation has undergone too many changes: vision, access to information, purchase routes, and brand perceptions. Another significant change is that leisure needs are being more separated from sporting goods, and consumers are turning to fast fashion brands like Uniqlo.

The problems faced by sports brands are more complex. It is a problem of the whole industry. Generally speaking, an industry with many brands that are irreplaceable or even indispensable to consumers has declined. In addition to the problems of inventory and the failure to deal with the youth of sports goods consumers, there may be problems in the following aspects.

Idols and the values they convey are the driving force of sports brands, but the reality is that there are not so many sports idols for young people. They are far less eye-catching than previous superstars. For example, the NBA has been looking for the next Jordan, but no other player can achieve similar star effect. In addition to the competitive law of the sport itself, new technology provides more information channels and information for young people, which also leads to the decline of the attraction of idols.

This also led to the following problems. The usual promotion channels and methods of brands have also changed. No matter whether it is traditional media such as TV, Internet media or new mobile media, there is a deviation between the brand and the target audience, that is, there is a difference between the promotion means and the arrival rate. Another change is the shopping behavior of consumers. This is at least an important reason for the depression of China's retail terminals. Online shopping is easier for sporting goods, and mainstream consumers are just the main force of online shopping.

In terms of consumer psychology, changes in fashion trends, purchase behavior, etc., sporting goods are the industries most prone to change. All so-called "essential consumer goods" have to face these changes. Sports brands are just a step ahead, which will inspire other industries. As smaller companies, local companies like Li Ning and Peak have not shown better speed and flexibility at present. Of course, the deeper problem is that these domestic brands lack accumulation. But in the face of the rapid changes in the market and young consumers, these are no excuses. If you cannot understand and attract young consumers, sports brands will eventually be abandoned by the market, and business is so ruthless.