ADI'S Sales In North America In 2017 Were Much Higher Than Those In Nike. How Did They Keep The Status Of The King?

In the field of sporting goods, Nike always seems to be the top priority, but now Adidas is catching up with technology, innovation and style, becoming an opponent that Nike has to pay attention to. In 2017, the total sales volume of Adidas (ADDDF) brand in North America increased by 25%, while Nike (NKE) sales increased by only 3%.

Despite the big gains, Adidas's scale is still less than Nike: Adidas's total sales in 2017 were $5 billion 300 million, while Nike's total sales amounted to $15 billion 200 million. However, Adidas has a more precise understanding and mastery of consumer demand, which has brought a lot of threat to Nike.

Christopher Svezia, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, a market research firm, said: "at present, the demand for technology and performance of sports shoes has gradually declined, and consumers are paying more attention to the appearance of sports shoes. fashion 。 At this point, Adidas's products have made great progress, and they have broken free from the shackles and are racing forward.

Brian Yarbrough, an analyst at Financial Services Company Edward Jones, said Adidas has launched a new marketing campaign with its classic Stan Smith and Gazelle shoes. The new design of many sports shoes attracts celebrities, and frequently appears in the photos of Hongbo master of INS network.

"If the Kardashian family put on your brand shoes, people will rush to buy it." Svezia said.

Although ADI is popular with fashion celebrities, Nike still holds a sports star. Nike has invested heavily in signing lifelong contracts with soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo, NBA star Lebron James and Michael Jordan. Jordan's Air Jordan brand is also one of Nike's trump cards. In addition, Nike has signed queen Serena Williams of the tennis queen, and has recently released the first line of women's sneakers for Nike Air Jordans series.

Nike is also NBA's official war service supplier, which is a deal that it took away from Adidas. Nike has also recently established a long-term partnership with NFL, with a contract lasting until 2028.

Nike relies on sports stars to conduct marketing and master the most famous star resources in sports. But Adidas has shown its ambition and wants to have a share.

In 2015, Adidas successfully removed NBA superstar James Harden from Nike.

Last week, Adidas announced a 10 year contract with University of Washington to replace Nike as its official sponsor. In order to seize the resources of female customers, Adidas also started with Latest fashion Designer Stella McCartney cooperates with the famous model Karlie Kloss.

Although Nike still mastered the vast majority of resources in the field of sports sponsorship, Yarbrough believes Adidas is better at product innovation.

For example, in April 2017, Adidas launched a new sports shoe "4D Futurecraft" (4D), which was printed by digital photo synthesis process and made use of 3D technology to produce durable and flexible laser through ultraviolet laser. shoes Bottom.

Svezia said Adidas's growth rate has slowed down recently, but it has gained more. market 。

Adidas may keep developing this trend, but Svezia also believes that Nike will have more sales in North America in the next financial year starting in June this year.

"After 18 to 24 months of hard times in the North American market, Nike began to launch products that are more responsive to consumer demand." He said, "the trend of Nike's decline is slowing down, and the development curve is stabilizing."

Yarbrough said that if Nike wants to maintain its status as an emperor, one of the important strategies is to narrow the distance from consumers.

Nike has made it clear that it hopes to increase interaction with consumers and speed up the launch of new products. Recently, many measures have been taken to improve the shopping experience of physical stores and online customers.

In March, Nike bought a technology company specializing in consumer behavior. Last week, Nike bought a company that uses artificial intelligence and 3D modeling to help customers shop.

In addition, Nike also plans to expand its business in 12 major cities such as New York, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris and Mexico City. Nike said that before 2020, the turnover of the 12 cities would account for more than 80% of the total growth of its turnover.