Can Andrea And HOVR'S New Running Shoes Return To Challenge Nike And Adidas?

In the SW Barbur Blvd south of the city of Portland, there is a playground without walls and open to all.

In the autumn, surrounded by yellow leaves and red maple, people run, play football and take a walk here.

The playground was built by Under Armour (UA, hereinafter referred to as Andemar), though there was no element of Andemar, but the edge of the playground was

The Portland office is enough to keep Andrew close to it.

This office is the Under Armour 's Footwear and Innovation Office, and on the left side of the door stands a large white T-shirt. This is the first product launched by andma in 1996, and it is the starting point for the company which received $4 billion 977 million in 2017.

In some bad words, there is no doubt that this is the brand's desire to show and maintain their "early heart".

The entrance to the entrance of footwear and research and Development Center shows the starting point of the brand.

In November 6th, at the footwear and research and development center, Andemar introduced to nearly forty media from all over the world, the HOVR series of new running shoes that were to be sold in 2019.

Together with the white T-shirt, there was a huge HOVR Infinite photo placed in the doorway. The location was placed on the wall behind Andemar's front desk.

This pair of flagship running shoes, which will be on sale next year, have become Andemar's facade.

In February 2018, Andrew first launched HOVR running shoes technology, and launched HOVR Sonic and HOVR Phantom two running shoes.

To introduce the HOVR soles of olefin foam developed by Energy Web and Dow Chemical Company to the world, the main technology of buffer springback is Andemar's core technology competition with Adidas's Boost and Nike's two React shoes.

The core weapon.

With the slogan "Gravity holds you down - HOVR lifts you up" and the Chinese version of "gravity on the earth" as the slogan, this technology emphasizes the characteristics of "antagonizing" gravity and resilience.

HOVR Infinite running shoes will be launched next year.

The event was called Topher Gaylord, the senior vice president and general manager of Andrew Ma, "the largest and most comprehensive footwear conference" in the history of Andrea, and Adrienne Lofton, the senior vice president of global brand management at the former Andrew Ma, was then referred to as "the largest product marketing activity in the history of the company".

From the point of view of R & D, product and marketing, everything is proving that running shoes are getting the attention of the brand of sports tights as never before.

"Andrea's mission is make you better (powerful and powerful).

When we talk about athletes, we mean different sports and different kinds of things, and our consumers, whether they are in collective sports or individual sports, are basically runners.

So for Andemar, it is a natural thing to provide product solutions for runners.

Because it will directly benefit athletes and consumers. "

Why invest energetically

Business, Topher Gaylord said, "running is one of the most popular sports in the world, and it is also one of the fastest growing projects, especially in China.

So running is a very good growth market.

Topher Gaylord, senior vice president and general manager of Andrew de Ma, at the 2019 HOVR running shoe conference.

According to the three quarter 2018 earnings report, Andrew footwear business revenue of $285 million, accounting for 22.78% of the group's total revenue, which is far lower than the first quarter of 2018 2019 quarter of the footwear business accounted for.

In the three quarter of 2017, Andemar's first decline in sales, footwear revenue increased by 2%, mainly by running and outdoor sports shoes, basketball shoes and children's footwear declined.

"In China, 8 of the top ten best selling products of Andrew are running related."

Topher Gaylord repeatedly mentioned that the growth of China's running market was strong and became the "engine of the development of Andemar brand (in China)".

When the semi annual report was issued in 2018,

The founder, CEO Kevin Plank, said that the HOVR running shoes, launched for only a few months, together with Curry5 basketball shoes, became Andemar's best-selling products and had a good response among retailers.

This is also an important driving force for Andrew to push HOVR's new running shoes in 2019.

With the success of Currie, Andrew is in.

Earning a lot in the field has become an important driver of performance growth.

But with the slowdown in revenue growth, the fall in share prices and even the loss in 2017, basketball business has been in a slow development.

At the same time, running products brought more vitality to Andemar's footwear sales. In the two quarter of 2018, Andrew shoes increased by 15%. This increase was mainly driven by running and team sports.

Although the first pair of running shoes were introduced in 2009, the running shoes did not seem to play an important role in Andemar's strategic layout in the past years, and there were no running shoes products that were compatible with Nike and Adidas.

The core technology of flagship professional running shoes is the precipitation of the strength of a professional sports brand in the past development. It is one of the foundations for future development of the category, and it is also one of the ways to create explosive money.

This is also a market where Andrea has a chance to achieve brand recovery sooner.

Seeing that competitors are making a lot of money, Andemar, despite his late efforts, is still in the fast developing market, enough to accommodate another aggressive player.

"In

In the current footwear business, running shoes account for nearly half, and basketball shoes account for less than running shoes.

Topher Gaylord indicates.

You know, this is only the flagship HOVR launch in the first year, with only two shoe sales.

And, as a core technology,

The HOVR can also be applied to basketball, outdoor, leisure and other fields.

"Running shoes are the important foundation of our whole footwear.

We believe that running shoes will help all our footwear businesses.

Therefore, we expect that footwear products will occupy a larger proportion of our overall business in the future.

Topher Gaylord indicates.

"Our product is for those who want to achieve certain goals and want to fight some ordinary life, whether they are running five kilometers, or for marathons, and for Olympic gold medals."

Topher Gaylord said at the conference.

In its February report on HOVR, FastCompany believes that the target population it wants to attract is "hard core runners and a wider range of leisure athletes".

In the market for running shoes, Andrew will launch 5 HOVR running shoes in 2019, with the exception of flagship cushioning running shoes HOVR Infinite, as well as HOVR Guardian, HOVR Sonic 2, HOVR Phantom SE and HOVR Phantom.

Some of them are better than speed training scenarios, others are especially good at supporting stability or earthquake mitigation.

With more running shoes with different scenes and functions, Andrea can better respond to consumer needs.

5 HOVR running shoes coming out next year

But it is hard to avoid the competition and comparison of players in the market.

Although Nike and Adidas have stopped the connected footwear business, Andemar hopes to continue to develop footwear products with digital functions that have been explored for 4 years to gain the advantage beyond technology.

Starting from HOVR Infinite, the HOVR series running shoes will be connected to the world through the smart chip in the soles.

The 6 millimeter thick "brain" that does not need to recharge and design longer life than shoes can enable fast downloading of mobile phones and shoes that have downloaded MapMyRun's running software.

Even without mobile phones, chips can automatically record, save and upload data such as track, speed and stride.

Andrew said that using these data, MapMyRun can provide you with private guidance to make your running progress.

The connection between HOVR Infinite and MapMyRun software has been tested. It is indeed very successful. Opening Bluetooth to start search requires only two steps to connect.

This smooth and speed is also emphasized by Andemar's software design team.

It is worth mentioning that the MapMyRun App has a special Chinese version UARun, MapMyRun and Ben Mcallister, head of the connection experience department, said that the Chinese version can use WeChat login for local characteristics, as well as air quality data.

The final acceptance of the intelligent function will also require the test of the new HOVR running shoes next year.

In March 2018, Andemar said in his earnings report that 2017 was the most challenging and opportunity year for the 20 years since the establishment of the brand.

In the two quarter of 2018, Andemar's total revenue increased 7.7% to 1 billion 175 million US dollars compared with the same period last year. The total income in the three quarter increased 2.4% to 1 billion 443 million US dollars over the same period. Fortunately, Andrew ended the three consecutive quarterly losses, and its net profit in the three quarter was 75 million 270 thousand dollars.

After the release of the earnings report, Andrew shares rose nearly 25%.

At the end of the press release, Andrew shares were priced at $20.90 and the market value was US $9 billion 751 million, although there was still a long way to go before the peak period, but it seemed that we had basically got rid of the low share price of nearly 11 US dollars / share.

This year, Andrew shares rose more than 40%.

In the three quarter financial report released, Andemar also raised his 2018 annual business expectations.

Although the recovery is still a long way to go, as CEO Kevin Plank said for its three quarter performance, Andrew's "pformation is on the right track".

The launch of HOVR in 2018 and more in 2019

The appearance may help Andemar speed up on the track.