Acquisition Of Outdoor Sports Brand OZARK PEAK Sports Multi Brand Strategy Further

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The field of outdoor sports equipment is the thorn land of Chinese sports products. Now sports brand PEAK has also entered this field.

Source: OZARK official website

In May 28th, PEAK sports CEO Xu Zhihua released a letter to all PEAK colleagues announcing the news of PEAK's sports acquisition of OZARK, an outdoor sports brand.

The letter said: "just last weekend, PEAK sports formally reached a consensus with the Muller family and signed an agreement: we will fully acquire internationally renowned outdoor sports brand OZARK."

Xu Zhihua also said bluntly that this good news reminded him of his college days: "at that time I was longing for outdoor adventures to explore the unknown world and experience unprecedented challenges.

And at that time, OZARK could be regarded as an outdoor sports brand at the palace level.

To have a complete set of OZARK brand equipment, to experience the protection through wind and rain, and forget the disturbance of bad weather, is my biggest dream and desire for outdoor equipment.

When the name of OZARK is heard, consumers may not have a very deep brand impression, but the outdoor sports brand has been developing in China for more than 20 years.

According to public information, Hans Shallenberger, an outdoor sports enthusiast in Switzerland, founded OZARK brand in China in 1996, and the brand development body has also been placed in China.

But its brand and products have always been benchmarking international brands, and the price in the Chinese market has also been in the high-end position.

OZARK is currently owned by Levi high group, Switzerland, which includes Swiss Levi high limited, Levi high tourism products (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Levi high outdoor sporting goods (Hubei) Co., Ltd., Beijing OZARK sporting goods Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Mei la la Trading Co., Ltd.

Levi Gao is a multinational group specializing in the development and design of outdoor sports products in many businesses of the Swiss family of Muller. The Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Hongkong, China.

Since 1996, OZARK has been a partner of the Chinese mountaineering team and has operations and production bases in Hongkong, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and Hubei.

OZARK provides outdoor clothing products such as mountaineering, rock climbing, skiing, hiking, cross-country running and other outdoor sports products such as clothing, shoes, backpacks, equipment accessories and so on.

According to the brand official website, at the beginning of its establishment, OZARK began to support the Chinese climbing team's exploration in the Himalayas, providing support for the first arrival of 7048m, and in the next ten years, from Nanga Parbat to the Bloom peak of OZARK, OZARK supported the climbing activities of China's fourteen eight thousand metre peak expedition.

Since then, OZARK has been supporting Chinese players to reach Mount Everest and the Antarctic expedition team to reach the highest point of the Antarctic inland DOME-A and the Olympic torch relay to the summit of Mount Everest.

In a letter to all PEAK colleagues, Xu Zhihua said that PEAK, which has always regarded "professionalization" as its brand strategy, began with basketball. After decades of development, it has made further extensions in running, comprehensive training, campus, children and football.

And the acquisition of OZARK means PEAK's march into outdoor sports.

PEAK started from basketball and now wants to explore the comprehensive sports industry.

After the completion of the acquisition, PEAK said it would make use of its experience in production management and marketing, combined with OZARK's technology and customer resources, to continue the brand's market influence and aim at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games to enter the ice and snow field, so that OZARK can maintain the leading brand position of outdoor sports, while expanding the market share of the high-end outdoor sports products in the company, improving the overall profitability of the group, and promoting the future growth of the group and the overall business development.

The field of outdoor sports equipment in China is a promised land with thorns.

In January this year, China Outdoor Textile Products Association (COCA) released the 2017 annual market survey report of China outdoor products at the ISPO sports industry forum.

The report shows that in 2017, the total retail sales of outdoor products reached 24 billion 460 million yuan, the growth rate was 3.22%, the total shipment volume was 13 billion 790 million yuan, and the growth rate was 2.61%.

Such a growth rate is not encouraging. At present, the most current revenue in China market is the local outdoor sports brand Pathfinder. In 2017, net profit decreased by about 151.45% over the same period last year.

However, the growth of outdoor sports brand individuals can not be represented by the general trend.

Frederic Guiral de Haas, chief executive of German brand Jack Wolfskin, told the financial times that sales of wolf claw in China, especially in major cities, increased by more than 15% over 2016.

And the group, which owns The North Face and Vans brands, also said that China will be the main investment area before 2021.

Patagonia, another outdoor sports brand in China, although its business volume is small, its growth rate is also kept at high digits.

Zhu Guangxian, general manager of Columbia brand China, said in an interview with interface news that by 2020, China's outdoor games will usher in an outbreak.

The outdoor sports market may have gone out of the "barbaric growth" period, but the market demand which has not yet been released has also prompted the brand to pay more attention to product quality, design, technology, and marketing form innovation.

For those companies who want to enter the field of outdoor sports through acquisitions, they need to find quality buyers.

For example, 361 degrees in 2013 and Finland high-end outdoor brand One Way Sport joint venture to obtain greater China operation rights, products targeting high-end sports.

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In February 23, 2016, Anta announced that it had invested $150 million to establish a joint venture with Desanto, a subsidiary of Tokyo listed company, Descente Global Retail Limited of Japan, and Itou Tada, a subsidiary of Tokyo listed company ITOCHU Corporation, to operate exclusively in China (excluding Hongkong and Macao) and engage in the design, sales and distribution business of all categories of products with "Descente" trademarks.

In October 2017, Anta announced that its subsidiary subsidiary ANKO and South Korea's well-known outdoor brand Kolon Sport completed the establishment of a joint venture. Kolon Sport awarded the joint venture company in mainland China, Hongkong, Macao and Taiwan exclusive marketing and marketing, sales, sub sales with Kolon Sport IP and trademark products.

PEAK has made three acquisitions in the past two years, and acquired 97 million 910 thousand yuan in December 2017.

The brand name king of leisure brand also bought the brand of children's clothing "tick tick".

According to sports industry media lazy bear sports report, Xu Zhihua said PEAK group is divided into sporting goods and non sporting goods.

The non sporting goods sector mainly invested in sports, including the purchase of flag king, tick tick children's clothing in 2017, and the declining brands being integrated into the Fujian area.

Route.

And said that after the preparation of the non sporting goods sector, it will not be involved in PEAK sports and return to A shares.

PEAK sports plate is divided into sporting goods and sports industry. The strategy is to expand from single sporting goods to comprehensive sports industry. Besides sporting goods, it is still trying sports events.

The multi brand strategy is becoming more and more clear with the acquisition of PEAK.

Xu Zhihua once said: "multi brand strategy is one of our options. PEAK's future will definitely become a group and a pluralistic one. Of course, the brand level is not necessarily just PEAK, there may be other changes, and it will be more subdivided.

The definition of PEAK is for different groups of people. There may be different brands in the future. Moreover, the most important way of A share and capital listing in the future is capital acquisition, and there will be some opportunities in the future.

In addition, PEAK has made many moves in the field of sports industry.

In August 8, 2017, PEAK sports officially became the exclusive sponsor of the Chinese Volleyball League sponsorship and the equipment category of the volleyball league.

In January 2018, PEAK and Xiamen Wen Guang established the sports industry investment fund, the first phase of which was RMB 1 billion yuan. PEAK said that the fund's main investment direction in the future is: sports operation rights, sports lottery license, sports rehabilitation, sports tourism, big data, intelligent manufacturing, sports training, E-sports and other sports industry companies; sports real estate, sports featured towns, fitness centers and ancillary comprehensive service operators, as well as film and television production, film and television supporting services, sports literature and exhibition, pan cultural entertainment and other related enterprises.

In January 31, 2018, PEAK sports held the 2018 Pingchang Winter Olympic Games sports delegation's equipment briefing. The Olympic winter sports equipment of Brazil, Slovenia, New Zealand, Iceland, Ukraine and Romania were officially unveiled by PEAK sports sponsorship.

In April 11, 2018, he signed a Messi Martin Tibabuzo with PEAK headquarters in Quanzhou. The football product line of PEAK will be mainly announced by the team to enter the football field.

Xu Zhihua concluded: "our trademark has been registered in over 180 countries and regions worldwide, and brands and products have entered over 100 countries worldwide.

While competing with France, Serbia, Iran and other national teams in pursuit of higher honors, China's volleyball Super League, sina 3X3 golden basketball tournament and other top events are all the epitome of PEAK's sports practice of "two-way drive between China and the global market".

In May 2016, PEAK announced its privatization plan 7 years after its listing in Hong Kong stock market, and officially closed from the HKEx in November 2016.

In February 2017, PEAK held a return to the A share development forum, officially announces that it will return to A shares.

According to media reports, Huatai Securities disclosed that PEAK expected to apply for listing time will be 2018.

But until now, there is still no specific time for PEAK to return to A shares.