Pay Attention To The Commodities That Are Ignited By The Olympic Games

The first skateboarding competition in the Olympic Games is like a group of underround rappers going to the stage through variety shows.

What does it mean to "incorporate" skateboarding into the mainstream competition system? For people in the circle, it is a controversial point of public opinion, while in the business world, it seems that a gold mine is opening up.

Since the opening of the Olympic Games, the "professional skate" search has increased by about 200% on a month on month basis, while the "skateboard backpack" has increased by 1100% in the same index, according to the data from Express Express. From the recent data, the number of roller skateboard products on the platform doubled year on year, and the sales volume and buyers increased by nearly 50% year on year.

In addition to the catalysis of the Olympic Games, the enthusiasm of consumers for skateboarding has been rising in recent two years. Most people outside the skateboard circle still know about the skateboard brand in vans, but in fact, skateboarding is a typical "small brand" industry, full of merchants at various prices and stalls. One board with four wheels, for this kind of commodity with low production threshold, it is not difficult to transform from factory, skater and seller.

Of course, skateboarding is not only an Olympic sport, but cultural value is the key to breaking the circle. The life style and attitude expression extended from sports, freedom and adventure have become the core mind of cross-border people who want to grasp in skateboarding, and they want to fight for a group of young consumers standing behind the skateboard.

Just as "subculture: the meaning of style" has a sentence printed in the preface: "subculture, from the beginning to the end, is the consumption culture of commodity society, the pasture of clear water, grass and fertilizer".

01 public entertainment of the small group

A few days ago, the first skateboarding competition in the Olympic Games attracted a burst of applause. Most people watched the game in a muddle and felt that the cool skills were very bright. Little do you know, a debate about whether skateboarding should stand on the competition field started from the 2016 Olympic Games "including" skateboarding.

"Skateboarding is not a race, it's a way of self-expression."

"We're afraid that children are being taken off course now. The more turns a skateboard is, the better. It's a top."

Xie Wenkai, a 32 year old skater, once said in an interview that skateboarding was "saving" the Olympics“ Now young people don't care about the Olympics. Skateboarding has become a mainstream sport for young people abroad. There's nothing wrong with the teams entering the system. The Olympic Games are just a competition. It is important that people's concept of consciousness should not be changed. If you have a good sense of consciousness, in the end, you will return to the streets. "

Behind these discussions, the real face of skateboarding is revealed: for many skaters, skateboarding is not a competitive event, but to enjoy the fun of sliding freely on the street. Spiritual appeal and expression of life attitude are the core.

"Young", "free", "street", "speed"... These keywords outline the characteristics of skateboarding, but also delineate the skateboard crowd with the same label. Therefore, skateboarding naturally has a social attribute. As the saying goes in the circle, "as long as you hold the skateboard, you will have friends when you go to the party."

Jeff, 26, has been in skateboarding circles for two years, and the most troubling factor for him may be "age anxiety."“ This group of people is really too young, basic under 20 students

But there is no doubt that the skateboard is constantly "broken". After opening the little red book, there are nearly 200000 notes on "skateboarding". Different from the impression of skateboarding boys in the past, there are many children and girls playing skateboarding. " A search for "e-commerce online" found that there were also many skateboarding training courses in the city, which seemed to be not the definition of minority sports.

In the view of skater Jeff, skateboarding is very necessary to spend time and effort to practice technical movements, if not, it is difficult to have the interest to continue to play, although more and more people began to try skateboarding, but really into the circle is not many.

"No sport can develop without a certain mass base and enough core players." Jeff said to e-commerce online.

"Some factory orders have been scheduled for the next year."

Jiang Hong, sales director of teamgee, told ecommerce online that Chinese factories accounted for 26% of the global supply of skateboards, second only to 28% in North America. Under the epidemic situation, Chinese factories took the lead in recovering and started the global production of skateboards. The production of skateboard is not complicated. A mature factory can produce 10000 pieces per day.

After all, the composition of the skateboard is very simple, including five parts: panel, sandpaper, bearing, skateboard bridge connecting bearing and wheel. However, the price range can range from 100 yuan to 8, 9000 yuan, and it is not the style and individual design that determines the price difference, but the material and the corresponding brand premium.

For example, the material of smooth board surface is divided into maple, carbon fiber, etc., and different weight, thickness and radian are closely related to the turning action. The material of the skateboard bridge and the diameter of the wheel also affect the flexibility and speed of the skateboard action. Even the sandpaper on the board can affect the friction force and action completion of the foot. In other words, professionalism determines the price and classification of skateboards, which can be divided into two types: professional boards and toy boards.

The cost-effective toy board is the mainstream of the market. These skateboards below 300 yuan have become the "Enlightenment" toys for many first-time skateboarders. Most of these toy board businesses are wholesalers or comprehensive sports equipment businesses. In addition to skateboards, they also sell roller skating shoes and so on. The "price war" of toy board is fierce, and the rate of * * is only 10%. It is difficult for any business to only do this business.

"But for 100 people who buy Toy boards, there may be at most one or two who can upgrade to skateboard players." Huang Sheng, head of the operation of DBH flagship store, told e-commerce online.

This kind of contrast is more and more obvious with the broken circle of skateboard. After joining the Olympic Games, the topic of skateboarding and variety shows are pushing this "Street Sport" to the front of the stage, and the number of people reaching is increasing, but it does not bring the real prosperity of "circle".

As a result, toy board and professional board are playing different roles. Compared with toy board, professional board merchants mainly focus on brand, and constantly establish their influence in "circle" by sponsoring KOL skaters and holding competitions, which also become the core force to promote the progress of skateboard industry. However, the circle of skaters is still small, which makes it difficult for skateboard brands to enter the public view.

Although carnival for the minority, it is a good business. According to Huang Sheng, online stores alone bring in 50 million revenue a year. The important reason is that once you enter the professional level, skateboarding becomes a kind of "FMCG". "Real skateboarders all know that it's normal for a board to break in a month and shoes to break in a week." Jeff said.

03 online and offline businesses

"The skateboard industry is relatively small. Any one person may have several friends who open a skateboard shop, and two skateboarders may not be more than five people who can connect them." Jeff likes to "bubble" in the local skateboarding shop. In addition to often trying skating in the shop, he regards it as a social arena.

For most offline skate shops, they are more like "local" businesses, radiating the local skateboard crowd, and promoting the sales of physical goods in the stores by holding events.

"Some skateboard shops will require that skateboards not purchased by our store are not allowed to compete." Jeff said frankly.

However, the online business of skateboards tends to be more radiated. Huang Sheng mentioned that the online and offline consumer groups are different. Offline consumers can have more practical experience, which is convenient for professionals to select. Online buyers are more intelligent in searching. They are either familiar with the brand or are first-time users of skateboards.

"Online buyers will be more sensitive to appearance and price."

In Huang Sheng's opinion, the construction of skateboard brand must be combined online and offline. For this category of skateboard, it is easier to do crowd operation and brand construction offline, so as to achieve a larger range of outbreaks online.

Xiaoer Qiyi of outdoor industry of Maitong sports told "e-commerce online" that after discovering that the attention of skateboards has gradually increased, the platform will help skateboard merchants better match target customers by precisely operating sports trend crowd. Meanwhile, on the regional side, it will make more off-site launches to European and other markets which are weaker than North America, so as to tap more market space.

04 share of young people's share

In fact, with the breaking of skateboards, the whole market is moving in two directions: children of lower ages and young people who use skateboarding as a means of travel.

For example, electric skateboard is a new category. Jiang Hong said that electronic skateboards can't do movements, but they are fast. The target audience is young people who have skateboard foundation and pursue speed, and become their means of transportation.

"The rate of e-skateboards is higher than that of traditional skateboards, which can reach 20%, with an average annual growth rate of about 50% According to Jiang Hong, 90% of the brands are exported, and last year's annual sales volume exceeded 50 million.

"The global skateboard market should be a hundred billion dollars." Jiang Hong said frankly.

As you can see, even if the skateboard track is not spacious, it has enough imagination. More cross-border players are also proving the great energy of this small circle.

***In August 2020, Virgil abloh, the design director of LV men's wear, and Lucien Clarke, a famous skater, jointly created a skate shoe. In the launch of LV 2021 spring and summer series, virgin abloh released two LV skateboards again. In order to publicize skateboards, two green devices that looked like arc shaped props of skateboards were also put into the commercial district of Shanghai, which shows the importance of Virgil abloh.

On July 19, Li Ning officially released Li Ning x Erik Ellington's "lingteng" signature shoes, which is also Li Ning's first skateboard line product. In order to enter the skateboard field, Li Ning has established contact with Erik as early as 2019. In April of this year, hongxingerke announced to enter the skateboard with high profile, becoming the official strategic partner and sportswear sponsor of China Roller Skating Association.

To be sure, whether it's looking for opportunities from market segments or cross-border players seeking new routes, the crowd they serve is not locked in the core skateboard crowd. After all, this niche field can't accommodate so many "food distributors.". But the freedom and adventure represented by skateboarding is the cultural spirit that the brand wants to fit in with. The young group standing behind the skateboard is the core group of brand anchoring.