How Do Sports Brands Tell New Stories?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, in February 26th,

Sports released 2018 annual performance, Anta group's revenue is high, and for five consecutive years to maintain double-digit growth.

In contrast, other sports

The performance of the group is not too bright. For example, a profit warning issued at 31st level shows that the group's net profit after tax will drop sharply compared with the end of 2017.

Sports brands abroad are also worrying.

Arthur, known for his losses, was 20 billion 300 million yen, the biggest loss in 20 years.

Even Puma, which ranks third in the world, is slowing down.

Industry experts said that sports brands at home and abroad need to upgrade from three aspects: product positioning, supply chain and marketing links.

Products strive for more precise positioning

China sports and Stationery Association outdoor sports Specialized Committee experts told the China Commercial Daily reporter that at present many sports brand products are ambiguous in positioning.

For example, Arthur has seen a decline in sales of sportswear and running shoes in the Japanese market, the European market and the Americas market, especially in the Americas market, and the sales of running shoes dropped by 14.2% over the same period last year, resulting in a significant decline in group performance.

"Although Arthur's sales in China have increased, but because of the development of the Chinese market is not deep, Chinese consumers do not know much about Arthur."

Compared with Arthur, Puma's product positioning is much more accurate.

As one of the most representative brands of the global sports style, Puma is leading the fashion trend.

They have a large number of entertainment star resources, such as popular actress Selena Gomez, net red Kylie Jenner, R&B singer TheWeeknd and creative director Rihanna.

In 2018, Puma also signed supermodel Adriana Lima as female comprehensive training ambassador.

Puma said that in 2018, their new Thunder retro daddy shoes, RS-0 and RS-X shoes were strong in the thick sole shoes market.

It is worth noting that in terms of product positioning, Anta's multi brand strategy has to be mentioned.

In recent years, Anta has increased its profit mainly through the acquisition of foreign brands.

The best example is the Italy sports leisure brand FILA, which is acquired by Anta.

In terms of performance, FILA has become the first sub brand of Anta's entry into the club of 10 billion yuan, and FILA has also become the main driving force for Anta's growth.

"The brands purchased by Anta have a very precise product positioning themselves, so what Anta needs to do is to let more Chinese consumers accept them."

The respondents said Anta's insisting on the acquisition of amamin sports is also based on the accuracy of its brand positioning. These brands with "European and American blood" are recognized by consumers and willing to pay high prices for them.

Upgrading urgently in supply chain and channel

It is undeniable that for the sports brand, the role of the supply chain can not be underestimated.

Many sports brands mention channel problems in their earnings reports, such as issuing a 360 degree earnings warning.

It is reported that the 31st degree channel is still dominated by the traditional wholesale distribution mode.

In the industry view, the sports market has been saturated now, this kind of distribution channel easily leads to the confusion of commodity prices.

"This wholesale distribution channel mode makes the pricing of the 31st degree product mainly decided by the dealer, which also causes the whole brand price system to be in a state of confusion."

A dealer who had acted for the 31st degree product said.

"This model seems inefficient in capturing consumption trends, and until the production of products is possible, this trend is over, which leads us to sometimes store up a large quantity of goods for sale," he said.

She said.

Indeed, today's market demand is changing rapidly, and fast fashion brands have entered the field of sports shoes and clothing. Its fast response supply chain system has brought tremendous pressure to sports brands.

Nike, Adidas and other international sports giants have also stepped up the supply chain layout, such as providing 3D printing technology.

According to Nike's publicly available data, the overall design of Flyprint is 16 times faster than the previous production mode. JamesCarnes, vice president of Adidas brand strategy, said that the new 3D technology can make Adidas manufacture products locally and shorten the pportation time, and at the same time, greatly reduce the cost, because we do not need to produce a complete mold.

In addition to 3D printing technology, various sports brands have also launched customized services.

As early as 1999, Nike set up a digital customization platform, NikeiD, which provides consumers with a variety of color and fabric choices for consumers to design their own sports shoes.

KenDice, vice president of global business at NikeiD, said in 2015: "today, the business is generating substantial revenue and has accounted for a large part of the electricity business."

CONVERSE launched the customized platform in North America in 2005.

Brandon Avery, then CONVERSE global creative director, said, "as of 2015, about 10% to 12% of the shops in New York came from customized services."

At present, the flagship store "Nike Shanghai 001" set up in Shanghai has also set up a customized service area. New Balance and VANS are also beginning to test the water custom business in China.

It is worth mentioning that, even recently, the temporary suspension of "miadidas customization" Adidas also said that the temporary closure of the platform is to provide consumers with new digital experience.

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How do sports brands tell new stories?

Marketing is the main way to attract consumers' attention.

In the face of the new consumption trend, all sports brands are trying their best to promote their products.

Puma said, "over the past five years, we have focused on five strategic priorities: creating brand fever; providing competitive product lines; providing women with a leading edge; improving the quality of distribution and speed of organization.

In 2018, we added sixth priorities to strengthen our position in the North American sports market. "

It is worth mentioning that recently, NBA announced that it was a multi-year agreement with Biao motor, which officially became the official market partner of NBA alliance.

Through this agreement, Puma will get some marketing rights and interests of the alliance. The brand can use the team logo and NBA elements for its players when designing shoes and other products. In addition, PUMA can use alliance elements in brand advertising and output original content related to the alliance.

In the domestic sports brand, the most telling story is not Lining.

The frequent appearance of fashion week has brought a good marketing effect to Lining, who is eager to pform.

For a long time, Lining and other domestic sports brands regard "high performance price ratio" as the core competitiveness, and its fancy color matching in product design has been widely criticized.

However, with the continuous upgrading of consumption, consumers have put forward higher requirements for the design and manufacture of clothing products.

To this end, Lining began to promote multi brand strategy, seeking high-end road.

It is undeniable that for apparel products, if we want to take the high-end route, we must first make good design and attract consumers' attention for the first time.

Lining began to follow the example of Nike and Adidas to promote the trend of fashion and fashion, frequent fashion week, joining Tmall's national tide plan, and integrating more popular elements in product design, seeking a balanced development in "professional sports" and "entertainment fashion".

Lining's pricing strategy has also changed. After the fashion week, a new sweater sells for about 700 yuan.

The national feelings of "China Lining" brought Lining back to public view.

Not just Lining, but XTEP is also taking a big step in the market for young people.

In 2018, XTEP signed the seven NEXT, a famous singer for "idols".

In addition, XTEP also named the "new rap" in China, and launched the joint products and tutors' contests. This series of actions also set up a bridge for young consumers in the pformation of XTEP.

Relevant experts of China Clothing Association Industry Department said that the consumption ability of young people is increasing at present. Although the celebrity effect brought by starvation marketing and star network is still the main means to attract consumers and seize the market for all sports brands, the pursuit of individuation by young consumers makes these marketing tools not necessarily effective after some time.

How to cater to the new needs of consumers requires enterprises to consider future development strategies in a more long-term perspective.

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