UGG Parent Company Grew 6.2% In The Fourth Quarter Of The Fiscal Year, Hokaoneone Excellent Growth Of Its Brand

A few days ago, Deckers Brands, known as the UGG brand company known as sheepskin snow boots and the outdoor sports apparel group of the United States, announced the fourth quarter and full year financial results of the 2018/2019 fiscal year. The group's annual sales increased by 6.2% over the same period last year, breaking through the 2 billion dollar mark. Its outstanding performance of the outdoor brand Hoka One One promoted the overall sales growth of the group.

As of the fourth quarter of the 2018/2019 fiscal year ended March 31, 2019, Hoka One One sales amounted to US $67 million 100 thousand, an increase of 33.2% over the same period last year. In the year of 2018/2019, Hoka One One sales increased 45.4% to US $223 million 100 thousand over the same period last year.

In 2009, Hoka One One was formally established in France, mainly for professional marathon runner and road race, cross-country race and triathlon athletes. The most obvious feature of the product is the super thick and slow mid sole, which is two times the volume of the general running shoes, and is known as the "sponge cake shoes" in the running shoes.

In 2013, Hoka One One was acquired by Deckers group. In order to further develop its business, Hoka soon moved its main businesses to the parent company's headquarters in California, Goleta. "This initiative enables us to make better use of the key professional knowledge of global headquarters." Wendy Yang, President of Hoka One One, said in an interview with runblogrun that it also allows brands to better share and utilize existing resources, including UGG.

In the product description of Hoka One One, the design core of running shoes has always adhered to the use of flick EVA geometric midsole to ensure that the shoes can maintain consistent and undegenerate high quality cushioning after prolonged use.

Since its inception, Hoka One One has maintained a two digit sales growth. According to SportsOneSource data, by the end of 2015, the company had 550 stores in the world, compared with just 92 in 2012, which has just been acquired. In the next Hoka plan, the brand will expand at the same speed in the future.

"For some consumers, when you first see the shoes of Hoka One One, you must refuse your heart. Because they all have thick shoes with different running shoes, which are not in line with mainstream aesthetics. Wendy Yang said, but sometimes, something unusual has become the reason why brands sell well.

In 2015, Hoka One One launched SPEEDGOAT shoes to officially cross the market for cross-country running shoes. The pair of runners, named after the legendary Karl Melzter of extreme cross-country running, are of a heavy shape and not smooth lines. However, they have attracted the attention of runners because of their main "Q cushioning, excellent cushioning and high shockproof protection". They have become one of the most successful shoes of Hoka One One in 2015.

One industry analyst analyzed the overall commercial development capability of the cross country race event compared with the marathon. The reason is that cross-country race is relatively small in China, and the number of participants is limited. However, as the "escalation of consumption" of road running, the consumption ability of cross-country runners is stronger than that of the ordinary marathon participants. This is reflected from the entry fee and the whole process of competition.

In China, for example, the application fee of Beijing marathon is kept at 200 yuan per year, while the TNF100 (Beijing international cross-country running challenge) event also takes place in Beijing. The registration fee of the 100 km group is 999 yuan, even if the registration fee for the 25 km group is 399 yuan. In 2017, the registration fee for the UTMB168 km group was as high as 235 euros.

"Overseas cross-country running products sell very well, indeed high-end customers." CEO Du Mingrui told lazy bear sports that the company provides all kinds of services to runners, including overseas tourism products.

And this is exactly why Hoka One One insists on professional off-road running shoes in terms of product positioning. "Because cross-country running is more niche than road running, so word of mouth brands are scarce, but on the contrary, Hoka One One has more room to play." Wendy Yang indicates.

According to statistics from Runningshoeinsight, a famous overseas running shoe website, the proportion of players wearing Hoka has increased year by year in the "IRONMAN KONA World Championships". Up to 2017-2018 years, the top runner has won the brand name of running shoes for two consecutive years.

As brands gain more and more resources and exposure, Hoka One One begins to launch into the global market. In 2017, Hoka began to enter China. The high-end audience in the market position was priced at 790 yuan to 1890 yuan, and the main technology was light and slow shock products, although thick soles did not give people a sense of lightness in vision.

The brand official website shows that the brand is currently selling products through authorized dealers such as Sanfo outdoor and X-bionic, and there are 55 stores in China, with China official website and Tmall official flagship store.

Since its entry into the Chinese market, Hoka One One signed in 2018 the Chinese elite teams including the triathlon, marathon, cross-country race and other 11 elite players, including the off-road runner Yun Bridge and the three iron Li Pengcheng, and joined the Shanghai International Marathon in 2018.

The rapid development of Hoka One One is accompanied by the persistent downturn in the running shoes Market in recent years. We can see that the development of these four brands is not satisfactory from the international top four running shoes brands, namely, Asics, Saucony, Brooks and New Balance, which have their own core technology.

In 2017, Brooks was sued by the Chinese local brand Anta for trademark infringement, and the ultimate compensation for the economic loss caused by the infringement to plaintiff Anta was 3 million 500 thousand yuan. At present, all products in the Chinese market have been shelving.

In 2018, Arthur's overall sales fell 3.4% to 386 billion 600 million yen (23 billion 700 million yuan) compared with the same period last year, operating profit decreased by 46.3% to 10 billion 500 million yen, and finally lost 20 billion 300 million yen, the biggest loss in 20 years.

In December 2018, Saucony posted notices in the official online shops such as Tmall and Jingdong, saying: "because of the adjustment of the brand operation strategy, we will clear the store from now on. If necessary, please place the order before December 28th, and the customer service online time will be closed until December 31st. Another reason is that stock pressure does not provide refund service. At the same time, offline Saucony stores have also been closed. Until March this year, the domestic brand XTEP announced the establishment of a joint venture with Wolverine, the parent company of Saucony, to win the development, marketing and distribution rights of footwear, clothing and accessories in the mainland of China, Hongkong and Macao, so that the brand can return to the Chinese market; Saucony

However, the problem encountered by New Balance is the weakness of the traditional main market in Europe and the United States. Meanwhile, the Chinese market is being snatch in Chinese market. For mass consumers, there are no obvious differences between the brands and the New Balance, including the words "new Yorkland" and "new brun", but the price gap is relatively large.

Compared with the decline of the brand of the four professional running shoes, Hoka One One has killed a blood route. As a kind of cushioning training shoes, Hoka One One has gained the recognition of some runners in China because of its "light" and "fast". "Like the king of Arthur in the road race, Hoka is also in the cross - country run." An enthusiast of cross-country running said he was in the know.

Looking back at the domestic market, in recent years, Chinese runner who challenges all kinds of cross country running benchmarking events is not a minority. For the 2017 UTMB five groups (PTL, OCC, CCC, TDS, UTMB), the number of entries in China is close to 300, similar to that in 2016, and this figure is less than 20 in 2014.

The number of cross-country running in recent years has increased sharply in China, but if it is placed in the context of rapid development of sports industry, it is not a difficult thing to understand.

According to the statistics of outdoor sports website 8264, there were more than 330 cross-country running events in mainland China in 2016, and nearly 100 in 2015, including 39 events at 100 km or above, about two times that of 2015. Lazy bear sports only provides platform inquiries for running events through love burning and coolest. In 2017, there are more than 400 cross-country running events recorded.

Nowadays, Hoka One One has attracted the attention of small runners and professional cross-country runners. Wendy Yang said that in the next stage, Hoka will continue to sponsor elite events and sign more athletes as brand ambassadors in addition to the new buffering technology.

"These marketing efforts can help Hoka One One further attract consumers through social media, enhance brand influence and market share." "We will continue to do what we are best at, that is to provide runners with supportive, comfortable, high cushioning shoes," she said. "You just need to try and know that their weight is incredibly light."