Anta'S Performance In 2015 Exceeded 10 Billion Threshold

Xiamen Guanyin Mountain has a wide field of vision. When the weather is fine, you can look across the sea to Jinmen.

There are many tall buildings here, including many well-known Jinjiang brands.

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Hongxing Erke and so on all take root here. Perhaps five years ago, many people could not distinguish them clearly. Perhaps no one would have thought that in the sports brand of this Jinjiang department, the industry leader of domestic sporting goods would be born.

Since its 2012 performance overtook Lining, Anta has become the "leading brother" in the Jinjiang brand. Ding Shizhong, the chairman of its board of directors, though the youngest in this group, has a high prestige.

Just after the Spring Festival, he looked relaxed and dressed up in sports.

During the Spring Festival, he will spend holidays with several entrepreneurs who are familiar with each other. This year, their choice is skiing. The theme is "finding excitement."

The reason is that Anta's performance in 2015 has exceeded 10 billion threshold.

Earnings data show that the company's revenue reached 11 billion 126 million yuan, an increase of 24.7% over the same period, operating profit of 2 billion 697 million yuan, an increase of 33.6% over the same period last year.

Compared with other industries in the impact of 100 billion threshold, this is not a great deal of data, but it has reached the highest performance of domestic sporting goods companies.

You know, in 2010, when Lining's revenue reached 9 billion 479 million yuan, approaching tens of billions of dollars, the domestic sporting goods industry encountered an unprecedented inventory crisis, which provided a good opportunity for low-key sneak Anta to catch up.

After getting rid of inventory troubles first, Anta's performance went all the way up until the first place.

However, for Chinese sports enterprises, the bigger proposition outside the scale is always the advance of the brand itself.

Even after breaking through the so-called trillion curse, Ding Shizhong also knows that there is still a gap between Anta and Lining behind the brand recognition. Let alone Nike, the breakthrough of brands is more urgent than the breakthrough of scale.

Survive the rest of the battle

To this day, domestic sporting goods companies also have a lingering fear of the stock crisis that almost destroyed industry confidence in 2012.

After ten years of golden age, domestic sporting goods companies have fallen from the high point. In 2012, Lining appeared on the market for the first time in eight years, which was close to 2 billion yuan.

In the same year, although Anta's performance was less than 1 billion yuan to catch up with Lining, it also appeared for the first time in five years.

Freezing is not a cold day.

Over the years, the neglect of terminal sales and dependence on wholesale mode made the inventory crisis of sports brand appear in 2011.

Zhang Qing, the founder of sports Consulting Co. Ltd., recalls that "the Chinese entrepreneurs" recalled that in the past, the brand dealers sold their products to dealers, and there were 4 quarters of orders in a year. Dealers completed their orders, and the brand's task was finished.

The direct consequence of this sales mode is that the branding is not sensitive to the change of market demand, nor can it perceive consumers' demand for products.

In this context, Anta pioneered the "retail pformation". The core of the pformation is to quickly collect feedback from customers, develop products that are popular with the market, provide precise ordering guidelines, encourage dealers to flexibly take up refunds, keep the storehouse pressure level stable and prevent inventory backlog.

As a former employee of Anta, Ma Gang recalls that the reform is not easy.

If the annual increase of 2 orders is still relatively easy to promote, then the reform of the terminal store is not done by the brand business itself.

This requires more cooperation from dealers. One of the details is to require all Anta stores to install ERP systems to understand store sales information and facilitate timely replenishment and updating.

For poor stores, they were asked to close.

Dealers are reluctant to accept such monitoring. They do not want to share the true data with the brand.

When the reform encountered resistance, Ding Shizhong decided to help dealers in the main counties and cities in the country to set up flagship stores, to other dealers "set a model", after the key shops to make the effect, then push forward easier.

One of the details that can not be ignored is that at that time, the "light company" prevailed in China, and Lining's model was highly respected, but under the pressure of inventory, the disadvantages were obvious.

Dealers are not controlled, and channels are in disorder.

Ding already realized the "unsustainability" of this model. Anta asked dealers to change the pattern of "re joining and light direct battalion" in the past, directly open direct stores, and strengthen channel control.

At the end of 2012, inventory disposal was basically completed at the end of.

The pformation of the retail links accelerated the average turnover days of Anta stock, which means the number of days that an enterprise has experienced from the acquisition of inventory to consumption and sales.

The less turnover days, the faster the inventory realisation.

In 2014, Anta's data was 58 days, compared with Lining's 109 days in the same period.

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Devil details

When the outside world attributed Anta's "perfect counterattack" to the success of the retail pformation, Ding Shizhong gave Chinese entrepreneurs different perspectives of success: powerful execution and invariable goal strategies.

Ma Gang told Chinese entrepreneurs that many dealers will sell Anta and other sports brands in the three or four tier market, but Anta's retail sector is most closely related to distributors. Other brands and dealers may not see it once a year.

Because communication is smooth, the instructions can be pmitted quickly.

And this effective execution culture comes from Ding himself.

One detail constantly quoted by the media is that in the most difficult period of retail pformation in 2012 -2013, Ding almost traveled to all the prefecture level cities in China, with a total number of more than 500. This data may only be compared with the former richest man, who is also known for his diligence, and Zong Qinghou, chairman of Wahaha.

Moreover, his habit did not change with the improvement of Anta's performance. Just a few days ago, when Chinese entrepreneur interviewed him through WeChat, he still patrolled the shop and told him: "this is a must do every year."

In Zhang Qing's view, it is not common to make a sports brand in the country, and to take the position of "Ding Ding" to do the pulling net.

From every aspect of production to sale, Ding Shuzhi will make specific suggestions for the furnishings in the shop. He will ask for the right of brand sponsorship. This top-down pressure will enable employees to do their best for the job.

In September 2015, the Beijing Winter Olympic Games bid successfully, Anta in the first tier cities of the 180 shops in half a day to complete the "replacement", and with the Winter Olympic Games to carry out a series of promotional activities.

Strong execution directly boosted sales performance, and sales increased by 16.7% over the same period last year.

The constant goal strategy reduces the probability that Anta will make mistakes.

In 2008, when the industry was at a high point, Lining opened the international journey and started the brand remolding campaign, setting up the high-end image of Lining. At the end of June 2011, Lining's change included a brand remolding plan including changing LOGO patterns, slogans and brand interpretation.

At this point, Anta has always been clear about its consumers since its inception.

Positioning is to meet the largest number of consumer groups in China, to become "national sports shoes".

Data show that at present, Anta stores are around 7000, from the distribution situation, the first tier cities accounted for about 15%, two or three line cities accounted for 75%, and other markets accounted for about 10%.

Even when it comes to positioning for the future, Anta President Zheng Jie told Chinese entrepreneurs that Anta will not change, but will further sublimate in the field of sports.

"Our leisure products accounted for a relatively high proportion, and nowadays, the proportion of leisure products is decreasing.

Take running shoes as an example. Our share is about 20%, and now the proportion is up to 35%.

But Anta's consumers are always 18 years old, -25 years old.

In 2008, Zheng Jie joined Anta. Before that, he was in Adidas.

He did not shy away from the "inadaptation" when he first arrived. At that time, many employees were not highly educated, and 1/3 were not college students. "Everything is business oriented, and with the sensitivity of wolf and the market, Anta has come to this day."

At the same time, Zheng Jie also admitted that Anta jumped to the top of the industry. In addition to its own efforts, its competitors also made mistakes.

However, Ding Shizhong still does not hide his admiration for his former rival Lining: Lining's profit this year should be no problem. A company that has lost over 3 billion yuan is still not broken down today, showing its strong brand value.

"If Anta is so upset, I can't imagine what will happen."

Under the draught

There is no doubt that Ding Shizhong is a smart businessman.

He is well versed in business practices, bigoted in details, closely following his opponents' footsteps, and does not let go of his opponents' chances of making mistakes.

However, business can be bigger in a short time, but the formation of brand is not so easy.

An embarrassing reality is that even in 2012, Anta's performance outperformed Lining. In the eyes of ordinary consumers, the image of Anta and Lining still had a great gap.

Ding Shizhong is clear about this reality: "brand awareness is there, but loyalty needs to be improved."

In order to further strengthen the relationship between Anta and sports, in 2009, Anta became a partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee. This is the first time in the history of the Chinese Olympic Committee to put forward the concept of a partner.

In the past, its sponsorship rights were relatively dispersed, and Anta packaged the four year's rights and interests together with the champion, gold medal, national flag and five rings to enhance the brand height.

This cooperation has continued to this day.

In addition, Anta also has core resources such as China gymnastics team, judo team, weightlifting team and so on. In October 2014, Anta took the identity of NBA "official market partners".

After winning the first domestic brand of Anta's shoes, through cooperation with NBA, Ding Shizhong hopes to break through in the field of basketball.

In October 2015, Anta announced that "just playing football" strategy, officially entered the football market, Zheng Zhi became the ambassador of Anta football promotion, and Fan Zhiyi and Xu Yang joined the Anta football coaching team.

Unlike core sponsorship events, Anta focuses on youth football, which is actually cultivating future consumers for its own brand.

Unlike Adidas, which sponsors top events and grabs the top soccer resources, Anta is still targeting the grassroots. Zheng Jie believes that when the country takes football as a compulsory course, the demand for products will be huge.

And the price of Anta within 200 yuan per pair of football shoes can give it a higher degree of acceptance.

The sale was carried out in group buying mode, and Zheng Jie revealed that "Anta children's soccer shoes have been sold to more than ten million pairs since the launch of last September."

Since then, Anta's layout in the three major fields of running, basketball and football has become more complete.

And the value of its brand is also improving. Zheng Jie told Chinese entrepreneurs that in measuring brand value, there is a concept called "first mention rate", that is, the brand that consumers first think of.

"We just finished the survey, we ranked third, accounting for 13% of the total survey sample.

Nike first, Adidas second, their share is 20%-30%.

Compared with 2008, we increased three to four locations.

Even so, over the years, Ding Shizhong's biggest feeling is still too difficult to make a brand.

After reaching the goal of ten billion and holding enough cash flow, Ding's "excitement" is to catch up with Nike ADI. In the next ten years, Anta will reach 100 billion scale.

The way to achieve this is to acquire the brand. In the February earnings conference, Zheng Jie said, "Anta insists on single focus and multi brand strategy to deal with competition.

The next plan will continue to achieve four or five brand matrix through acquisition, and the principle of acquisition is to cut into the market segments.

To achieve coverage of different segments of the population.

In recent years, the change in the market is the rise of professional sports brands such as Under Armour and LULU LEMON. They focus on the market segments and are relatively high-end. In 2014, Under Armour surpassed Adidas to become the second largest sports sales brand in the United States.

After Ding Shizhong's analysis, he thought that there was no odds with Nike and Adidas, but market segmentation was a good opportunity.

Ding further explained that in the future, the criteria for acquiring brands should be differentiated from Anta first, followed by market segmentation, and third if specialized products.

On the same day of the publication of the earnings report, Anta and Desanto and Itou Tada set up a joint venture to distribute exclusively the products of Desanto brand in the mainland.

This brand, the main skiing product, is located at the top end.

One of the reasons for Ding Shizhong's confidence in branding is probably his successful operation of the Italy brand FILA.

In August 2009, when Anta bought BELLE's FILA operations, BELLE lost 50 million yuan in the first two years.

After the sale, BELLE admitted that its lack of experience in international brand operation.

But Anta let FILA "revive" in its hands. According to the 2015 earnings data, the number of FILA stores reached 591, although no specific revenue data were disclosed, but Anta President Zheng Jie said: "the growth of FILA brand and e-commerce business is very fast."

Ma Gang disclosed that at that time, when we bought FILA, everyone was worried about bad operation. But after full running in and analysis, the business was pretty good after giving FILA fully independent operation power.

In order to build a multi brand matrix, Ding Shizhong has begun to adjust the internal organizational structure. He told the Chinese entrepreneur that he will build three business groups in the future, including the factory business group, the brand business group and the terminal retail business group.

At the same time, it will also build two platforms, procurement platform and logistics platform, the procurement platform will further reduce the cost, while the logistics platform will provide convenience for dealers, and will also increase the group's control over the entire supply chain.

"Logistics platform has begun to build, although it is not convenient to disclose specific data, Dante said" the amount is huge "and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2017.

In Ding's view, because the domestic industry chain is not complete, "some excellent companies in the world have been doing this for a long time. In fact, we are just making up lessons."

However, at home, what is more exciting than the upgrading of consumption is the national vision for the sports industry to reach 5 trillion output value in 2025.

Just as many sports brands began to wade into sports services, Ding Shizhong reintroduced "craftsman spirit" and said that every pair of shoes and clothes should be done well.

Such an idea is likely to make the outside world feel "too conservative".

In response, Zheng Jie's response is that every enterprise is choosing what they are good at to do, and can not afford to take other options.

Feng Tao, the founder of sports, believes that only those who really are in the sports circle know what they want.

In his view, from the sporting goods market, there will be huge demand in the future. There is nothing wrong with focusing on this market.

But the variables are not.

One of them is the recognition of multi brand businesses. Zheng Jie acknowledges that this is a challenge. "We have considered the complexity of management, but if you want to become the eldest of China's sporting goods industry, if there is no such brand, it is virtually impossible.

You know what I mean? You have to do it. "