Brother Lining Has Surpassed Lining.

It is undeniable that even before taking the NBA resources, Anta has surpassed Lining and become the most scenic brand in the domestic sports brand.

It has a cash flow of about 5 billion yuan and is a partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee, holding core resources such as the Chinese gymnastics team, judo team and weightlifting team.

In the first half of 2014, its turnover was nearly 1 billion yuan higher than that of Lining, nearly 2 billion 800 million yuan more than that of pick, and its revenues and profits ranked first in the industry.

What's interesting is that the resources of the Chinese Olympic Committee's partners, the Chinese gymnastics team and so on are Anta's grabbing from the hands of rival Lining, and the Chinese gymnastics team has long been regarded as the hinterland of Lining.

In fact, before being overtaken by Anta, Lining has always been the absolute elder brother of the sporting goods industry in China.

Historically, the two companies are almost the same, but in the past 20 years, Anta has been playing the role of catch-up.

Compared with the Li Ning Co, which is proud of the "Prince of gymnastics", the grass roots Anta is not very popular with consumers.

Back in August 8, 2008, Lining lit the Olympic torch under the eyes of hundreds of millions of people, so that the company named after Lining really went to the world.

The company, founded in 1990, cooperated with the Chinese Olympic Committee at the beginning of its founding, and spared no effort to sponsor events.

In the eyes of many consumers, Lining's brand has even become a symbol of the country.

It was a brilliant stage.

In 2008, Li Ning Co created 6 billion 690 million yuan income.

A year later, it surpassed Adidas in an irresistible momentum. At that time, Lining's sales volume was 8 billion 387 million yuan, and ADI's sales volume was about 7 billion yuan.

This brilliant achievement is based on the horse racing enclosure.

In the year 2009 alone, Lining added 1239 stores to 8156, which is arguably the largest sports distribution channel in the country.

But there are hidden dangers.

After the Beijing Olympics, the whole Li Ning Co turned their attention to the international market. They were no longer satisfied with the domestic market, and their performance exceeded Adidas in 2009. They had every reason to run faster.

In addition, as early as in January 2008, Lining set up an overseas shoe product R & D center in Portland, which inserted the red flag into Nike's backyard, and at the same time indicated that it would carry out a positive war with Nike.

In this process, Lining's most aggressive move is to reshape the brand, release a brand new logo and slogan, and make a comprehensive adjustment of brand DNA, target audience and product positioning, trying to create "Lining after 90".

"After 90, it has an international perspective, and loves innovation and quality.

If we want to get their approval, we need to be sharper, fresher, more dynamic and more personal. "

Zhang Zhiyong, then Li Ning Co's CEO, said that the reason for this adjustment was due to the market survey conducted by the company between 2006 and 2007.

The results show that Lining's actual consumer groups are generally 35 to 40 years old, accounting for over 50%.

If Lining wants to take the initiative in the future, he must rebuild the brand.

"In the long run, this is something that needs to be done.

But not at that point, it is open to question. "

A core executive of Li Ning Co recalled to the "financial world" weekly that in the past, the price of Lining's sneakers was two hundred or three hundred yuan, and when the brand was remodeled, its price was adjusted to four hundred or five hundred yuan, which was somewhat unacceptable to consumers.

In the end, dealers in the three or four tier market can not afford the price of adjusted products, and their performance has declined sharply.

"When the performance goes down, the dealer will not order, then Li Ning Co headquarters will begin to discuss whether we want quantity or brand." the executives said there was a disagreement among the companies, one side supported the brand, the other side supported the channel, and the management "repeatedly swayed between the two decisions".

During this time, Lining gave up basketball, Chinese Olympic Committee and other resources to support badminton and other unpopular events.

"Some of them are too casual. They should be cautious and do not give up a few resources."

He said.

As a competitor, Lining's turbulence has finally given Anta an opportunity.

In fact, Anta's ability to seize opportunities is a crucial factor in its ability to counter big brother Lining.

In 2004, when Lining gave up sponsorship of CBA, Anta did not hesitate to choose to follow up.

The change brought by this sponsorship to Anta alone can be turned upside down.

In 2011, the turnover of Anta was only 310 million yuan, but by 2011, this figure had risen to 8 billion 900 million yuan. In 2009, when Lining gave up the cooperation with the Chinese Olympic Committee, Anta also took the resources, and it was the whole four years of packing. The Chinese delegation would wear all the sports uniforms with Anta Logo. In August this year, Anta replaced the Chinese gymnastics team.

"Since four years of continuous service for the Chinese delegation, the requirements for the production, design, distribution and service of the enterprise are very systematic."

Zhang Tao, vice president of Anta, said.

More importantly, these moves have greatly enhanced Anta's brand attention.

"As long as it is possible to win the championship, it is our goal.

We hope that consumers can associate with Chinese sports and think of Anta.

Ding Shizhong said that these long-term sponsorship, the impact on performance will not be so fast, but will have a positive impact on the brand, and will enhance brand revenue in the long run.

At the same time, after Lining shouted the slogan of "90", Anta was also strengthening its market positioning.

Ding Shizhong did not focus on the first tier cities. Instead, he targeted the three or four line market and targeted his consumers to 18 to 22 year old consumer groups, including college students, young white-collar workers and migrant workers.

He has even repeatedly claimed that Anta is not concerned about giving up some high-end users because of the different positioning of brands and consumers.

This strategic positioning is most vividly reflected in the pricing of its shoes.

Anta has signed NBA stars Garnett and Rondo for its exclusive sneakers, but the price is only about 399 yuan, which is much cheaper than the price of other sports brands at home and abroad.

Although the price is low, the product's performance and quality are not bad.

Ding Shizhong even lifted examples of apples and millet.

"Apple phone and millet phone, the difference is not big, but Apple's brand is better than millet.

I have always advocated that we should do better at products of the same price. "

To this end, Anta has packaged a concept of "national basketball shoes" and "strength without price" to emphasize the high cost performance of its shoes.

"I want to be a real" national shoes "so that more people can really afford it.

Ding Shizhong said that although the cheap basketball shoes may affect the gross profit margin of Anta products, he did not care, because "Anta sacrificed one or two SKU gross margin, but sales volume went up, the enterprise also did not lose".

In his view, Anta is not unable to produce the products of "high-end, atmosphere, and grade" in the eyes of consumers in the first tier cities. The key to the problem is that if consumers are satisfied with and approve of their own practices, why not continue to do so?

Despite the price advantage, Anta

Sales volume soared and rapidly consolidated its leading position in the low and medium price market. However, a problem Ding Shizhong has never been able to solve is: some features of Anta sneakers, such as wear-resisting and deodorizing, really cater to the needs of mass consumers. But those who really like basketball are not concerned about these, but the technological content and design of sneakers.

At this point, the grass roots image of Anta has not been recognized by high-end consumers. Their first choice is still ADI and Nike.

Besides,

Always looking at the three or four line market, but relatively unfamiliar with the first tier cities, this has caused it to be sensitive to new things.

How to please the middle class consumers in the first tier cities has always been a problem for Ding Shizhong.

Of course, depend on

As well as the development of the three or four line market, Anta also handed in a good pcript.

In 2009, its turnover reached 5 billion 870 million yuan, and net profit increased by 39.8% yuan to 1 billion 250 million 900 thousand yuan over the same period last year, exceeding Lining's 945 million yuan.

In the half year of 2011, Anta took the lead in surpassing Lining with the advantage of 160 million yuan sales.

Although the final annual report Lining still ranks the first in domestic brands with the advantage of 30 million sales, Anta has already started the best era.