Starting From 2015 When The Tide Of The Country Was Ignorant: Hongxingerke, The Noble Bird, And Li Ning

In 2015, a big fire burned up nearly half of Hongxing Erke's production equipment, and the enterprise's production fell into stagnation.

Six years later, Hongxing Erke, considered by netizens as "on the verge of bankruptcy", donated 5000 all kinds of capital to aid Henan Province at one stroke, making the "small transparency" of this domestic sports brand transformed into the most popular sports brand in China, with sales exceeding 200 million in a few days.

Hongxingerke's "going out of the circle" has too many elements of chance and luck, but it is indeed a story trend with the most dramatic significance: although in deep trouble, he still cherishes patriotism.

People, always willing to pay for such feelings.

However, with the gradual return of "wild consumption" to reason, people gradually realize that for a brand, the temporary popularity can not be maintained, and long-term brand building is the biggest mass basis.

On August 5, 21st century economic reporter contacted relevant staff of hongxingerke. Hongxingerke, in the eyes of public opinion storm, chose to be silent. The person said: "the company will not accept media interviews for the time being."

Although hongxingerke's losses are narrowing now, it has fallen behind for a long time in the river and lake with Anta, Tebu, 361 degree and other "Jinjiang system" teammates.

Looking back, the year 2015 when the fire broke out was not only the turning point of hongxingerke's fate, but also a wonderful dividing point for many domestic footwear brands.

After more than ten years of blindfolded sports brands, the differentiation appeared in that year. Up to now, some brands are on the verge of collapse and vanishing, while others are rising again.

The heat of hongxingerke is obviously not the end of the story.

Fork in road 2015

Hongxing Erke was founded in 2000 by Wu Hanjie and his two sons, Wu Rongguang and Wu Rongzhao.

In the 1980s when hongxingerke had no name, it belonged to other "Jinjiang system".

361 degree, Delphi, Tebu, peak, Anta, Fuguiniao and guirenniao were founded successively in the 1980s and 1990s, becoming the mainstay of domestic shoes and clothing brands in the future.

In 2004, Li Ning, the "latecomer", took the lead in opening up the road of securitization. Li Ning company successfully listed in Hong Kong and its sales volume reached a record high. It became the first Chinese sporting goods company listed in Hong Kong, China.

Under the stimulation of Li Ning's case, many brands launched their listing plans.

In 2005, hongxingerke was successfully listed in Singapore, becoming the first clothing brand listed overseas in the industry.

The beginning of the 21st century is the golden age of Jinjiang series. The success of the Olympic bid, the qualification of men's football team, and China's accession to the WTO have stimulated the domestic shoe enterprises to keep running.

But around 2015, China's major shoe brands have come to a fork in the road.

This year, hongxingerke was in trouble because of the fire.

However, the noble bird ushered in the highlight moment.

In 2015, the noble bird just landed on the Shanghai stock exchange for one year, with the halo of "A-share sports first share".

At the same time, the share price of "China's shoe king" Fuguiniao, which has been in Hong Kong stock market for two years, also reached a phased high of HK $7.4/share in 2015.

When the noble bird and the rich bird are soaring into the sky, the danger has quietly arrived.

From 2014 to 2017, there were more than 10 acquisitions of noble birds. The industry spanned the Internet + sports, sports brokerage, Event Hosting, sports insurance, sports games, sports fitness, etc., and invested 4.6 billion yuan in capital operation.

It was also in this year that Fuguiniao started the cross-border "killing death": it invested 10 million US dollars in P2P platform win-win society. In October of the same year, rich bird once again entered the financial platform dingdong wallet and became its major shareholder.

Looking back, Li Ning and Anta, perhaps the first to embark on the road of securitization, broke away from it because they had experienced the dangers of capital early and focused on their main business.

As the upsurge of the Beijing Olympic Games receded, Li Ning encountered an inventory crisis.

Almost at the same time, Anta, which had a steady increase in operating income, also declined in 2012 and 2013.

In other words, under the circumstances of overcapacity in this industry and the need to tighten their belts, the noble birds did not recuperate, but indulged in the bubble in the capital market and expanded against the trend to exchange scale for profits.

In 2015, the net profit of Fuguiniao declined for the first time, realizing a net profit of 390 million yuan, a decrease of 13.09% compared with 2014.

Anta, on the other hand, struggled out of the declining performance and achieved a steady recovery, with revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan in 2015.

Li Ning, the founder of Li Ning, returned to the management in 2015, which became the starting point for the revival of Li Ning brand. After three years of continuous loss, the company's revenue gradually increased, and the overall net profit maintained an upward trend.

Great defeat in 2019

After the fire, hongxingerke made a lot of efforts.

For example, it is necessary to re-establish the sports brand tonality and return to the original intention; The launch of new technology and new products, but these initiatives have little effect.

In the case of Nike, Adidas and other foreign brands and domestic brands of Li Ning and Anta, Hongxing Erke is still a "small transparency".

After the event, compared with the difficulties of the noble bird and the rich bird, "small transparency" is also a good positioning for hongxingerke.

Due to the red line of delisting risk warning, the stock abbreviation of noble bird was changed to * ST noble on May 6, 2019.

On August 26, 2019, the rich bird, which was deeply in debt, declared bankruptcy.

In 2019, the two "famous bird" shoe companies were defeated, officially announcing the separation of Chinese footwear brands.

Talking about the decline of the two major shoe and clothing brands, Hejun consulting partner and Chain Consulting Director humanistic Zhihong told the reporter of the 21st century economic report that "the most essential common point of the decline of the two brands is that the main brand management is not solid enough."

He believes that early development with the help of dividends from the development of footwear and clothing industry has achieved short-term success, but this dividend is unsustainable, enterprises blindly do diversified expansion, the main business can not be connected, and the new business can not rise, so it has fallen into a passive situation.

This logic is indeed consistent with the context of the story.

In the second round, the two brands have indeed carried out a series of dazzling capital operations.

After 2015, the noble bird is addicted to mergers and acquisitions, including entering Hupu, investing in Kangpaisi sports, acquiring Shengdao sports, and acquiring game company and fitness brand Wales. Besides the sports industry, the noble bird also set foot in sports insurance business.

But the rich and noble birds who set foot in P2P are unable to recover with the bursting of mutual gold industry bubble.

In an interview with the media in 2013, Ding Shizhong, chairman of Anta, pointed out the disadvantages of shoe brand development at that time. "In the past, China's sports goods market and clothing market were all brand wholesale models, that is, spending money on advertising, establishing brands, and then selling products to dealers, providing a set of standards to dealers, which is basically over."

He believes that the future industry can not be driven by the opening of stores, but by the growth of sales in the same store.

While noble bird and rich bird are keen on cross-border, Anta and Li Ning are actively reducing inventory and transforming to retail, and have achieved certain results.

It is this different strategic orientation that leads to different outcomes of local brands.

2021 of generation Z

Hongxing Erke is still struggling to support old-fashioned enterprises such as noble bird and rich bird on the verge of collapse.

After the official delisting in 2020, the specific financial data "have not been disclosed again". Wu Rongzhao once responded: "the company has made some profits, the transformation process is still difficult, but it is not on the verge of bankruptcy."

As far as hongxingerke is concerned, it is still unknown whether this unexpected turn up in 2021 is a "victory".

The e-commerce channel is out of stock, the live broadcasting room forces the anchor to go offline, and offline stores are snapped up in a frenzied fashion... Wu Rongzhao has to appeal to consumers to "rational consumption" in the studio.

Wang Qiong, fashion director of Huali Zhi, who focuses on fashion research, told the 21st century economic report that "hongxingerke is a unique case of strong resonance between more confident Chinese consumers and Chinese brands in a specific time window. In fact, a lot of Chinese brands are seriously operating, trying to produce high-quality products, but maybe they can't find a breakthrough in the marketing side. "

She also believes that after this sentiment, the enthusiasm of consumers will drop, and the attention of social media will also decline. This is the moment to test brand marketing.

For a long time in the future, Hongxing Erke still needs to think carefully about how to cultivate its internal strength and transform its brand heat into long-term brand attraction.

The early transformation of Li Ning and Anta may serve as a reference.

Since Li Ning regained control of the company, the number of days of inventory turnover accelerated. After its return, an important decision is to target the consumer group on young people. "It's not us that lead the new generation, it's the new generation that leads us," he says

In 2018, Li Ning put forward the basic strategy of "single brand, multi category and multi-channel", and carried out comprehensive reform in brand positioning and pricing, precision marketing, channel operation, supply chain optimization, etc., in order to seek revival.

Since April 2021, Li Ning's share price has soared by 80% on the basis of continuous rise, which is largely due to the market's focus on Li Ning's role in the rise of the national tide.

Different from Li Ning, Anta has adopted the development strategy of "single focus, multi brand and omni channel", realizing the aggregation of internal and external brands through the external "buy buy buy" mode, so as to enhance the brand strength and popularity.

When Li Ning is targeting generation Z, Anta's FILA brand covers all age groups.

Through "buy and buy", Anta has become an enterprise with SKU positioning across low, medium and high-end, focusing on fashion, leisure and professional sports brands. According to the statistics of the 21st century economic report, it has successively purchased FILA's business in Greater China, leading brands in skiing, baseball, bicycles and other market segments, as well as middle and high-end well-known outdoor sports brands such as spandi and kingkow, Archaeopteryx, Salomon and Wilson.

"Domestic shoe brands have experienced the development process from single brand to multi brand group, from product driven to design driven, from self incubation to acquisition and merger of overseas brands. Compared with the beginning, the market environment and consumers faced by domestic brands have undergone earth shaking changes, and only brands with deep perception, rapid judgment, timely response and sincere treatment can win the favor of consumers in the future. " Wang Qiong said.

Behind the emergence of hongxingerke, it is a profile of the rise of the national tide.

The root cause is the continuous improvement of China's shoe and clothing supply chain, the continuous improvement of product strength, the promotion of diversified marketing and channels, and the cultural confidence of generation Z.

Little known is that the noble bird also contributed generously to the flood in Henan Province, and has brought flow feedback in the follow-up.

On August 5, a personage from the noble bird Securities Department told the 21st century economic report that "there has been a certain increase in both the live broadcasting room and other businesses in recent years, and (disaster relief) has a certain role in promoting our sales. Coupled with the spread of the idea of domestic products in the market, it is a positive impact on our company or Hongxing Erke. We are very happy. "

For the company's current predicament, the noble bird is not shy.

The source told reporters, "it's just that all kinds of reports say that the pace is too big."

Ma Li team, a new consumer of Zheshang securities, points out that domestic brands tend to be specialized, younger and more differentiated. Li Ning, bosden and other brands have made significant breakthroughs in product fashion and high-end by employing design directors of international famous brands in combination with Chinese traditional culture, and at the same time, they have made brand discussion in peak season with Dashu. Anta and Tebu are not inferior to the top foreign brands in terms of product technology. In addition, taipingniao, biyinlefen, jiumuwang and other domestic brands have clear and segmented product positioning, and the products are fashionable and comfortable.

All in all, the path of the rise of the major brands is different, but the core is the same, all of which are good products, channels and brands. Now these all serve the common goal: young people.

Anta's development goals for the next five years announced a few days ago also put forward that "win the Z generation and open up a billion + level new track" at the brand end. In order to create a young and trendy brand image, Anta invited Wang Yibo, the top stream spokesperson, as a breakthrough point of the young circle, to capture the heart of generation Z by means of cross-border co branding and setting up event IP "going crazy".

With the tide of the country rising, shoe and clothing brands will form a new division with the preference of generation Z. Intern Li Bingzhen reports from Shanghai

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