European Cup Helps Domestic Sports Brands Break Through

Quadrennial European Cup The fierce battle is in full swing, and the hot fan market has also made major sports brands earn a lot of money. In this year, when sports brands are deeply troubled by high inventory and their overall performance is poor, the European Cup, which lasted for nearly a month, is undoubtedly an exciting timely rain.

Nevertheless, people in the sports brand industry said that even if the rare European Cup and the London Olympic Games were held in the same year, domestic sports brands still had many difficulties in breaking the situation in terms of the current adjustment cycle. The adjustment period of local sports brands should be at least 3-5 years.

Foreign brand football products are very popular

Since the opening of the European Cup, fans have been fascinated by the European Cup, and clothing related to the theme of the European Cup has also been sought after by fans.

Adidas said that the sales of its football related products will exceed 1.5 billion euros in 2012, driven by the current European Cup. Nike also increased its investment in football. This time, they sponsored five teams, namely Portugal, France, Netherlands, Croatia and Poland.

According to the person in charge of Vancl's public relations department, the number of clothes officially authorized by the European Cup is nearly 5000 per day, which exceeds 300000 yuan per day. As the European Cup started on the weekend, the sales of the Fanke sports product line increased by nearly 50% on that weekend. It is worth mentioning that the European Cup themed women's clothing specially designed for female fans is also selling well.

Xie Xudong, head of the market of Wanguo Outlets, told reporters that since the start of the European Cup, many fans have bought jerseys at Adidas on the first floor of the basement after work in order to watch the ball in the bar at night.

Recently, the reporter visited the market and learned that during the football match, businesses launched a variety of football sports leisure products, including the European Cup LOGO, team badges, players' signatures, players' faces, etc. The clothing styles are mainly short sleeved T-shirts, polo shirts, knitted shorts, etc. The prices range from tens to hundreds of yuan.

In this European Cup, a professional organization predicted that the global sales of football products in 2012 will exceed 4 billion euros, and the sales of football products in the European Cup will increase by about 5%.

The European Championships will not change the domestic downturn

Although the European Cup has attracted the attention of many Chinese fans, China Sportswear brand None of them sponsored the European Cup.

The relevant person in charge of a sporting goods company said that the European Cup was, after all, a regional event in terms of influence, and had little to do with China, not to mention jet lag. This may be the most important reason why domestic enterprises cannot be attracted to put on the competition advertisements. And even if domestic sports brands want to break out of Asia, the European market is not easy to do.

The European Cup feast has attracted the attention of Chinese fans, but it has not reversed the survival dilemma of Chinese sports brands, and the sports brand market continues to be depressed. The reporter's visit found that the discounts rarely seen on sports brands before are now very popular. "From 59 yuan for summer clothes", "from 10 yuan for sports shoes", "70% off for new products"... Many insiders lament that the life of local sports brands is getting worse and worse, and discounts are a must.

According to Li Ning, Anta, Tebu, 361 degrees Peak According to the annual reports released by six domestic sports brands, the sales growth rate in 2011 all declined. At the same time, inventory, operating profit, gross profit margin and other indicators are not optimistic.

Li Ning announced that the annual order meeting in 2012 has been completed so far, and the order amount of the annual new product order meeting decreased by a high percentage of units compared with that of last year, in which the order amount of footwear products recorded a double-digit decline. In terms of clothing, the order volume declined by more than 20%, and the average retail price and order volume declined by more than 20%.

In fact, it is not only Li Ning who suffers a lot, but also Anta Sports, another local sports brand. Anta Sports announced on May 17 that in the fourth quarter of 2012, the order amount of the order meeting recorded a low double-digit percentage decline, while the total order amount of the annual order meeting recorded a high unit percentage decline. The company's share price also hovered at the trough of nearly three years.

Like the two companies mentioned above, Peak Sports experienced a decline of 20% - 30% in its footwear and clothing products at the fourth quarter of 2012 order meeting. Peak expects that by the end of this year, the number of stores will be reduced to 7000, a decrease of about 10%.

From the perspective of the whole industry, in recent years, the market size of domestic sporting goods has increased from 20% annually to about 13% in 2011. Market participants predict that the growth rate will further slow down to about 5%~8% in 2012.

Expert analysis

Betting on the London Olympics

It may not bring about a turnaround

The European Cup has not brought much change to the domestic sports brand market. At present, the major domestic sports brands can only rely on the London Olympic Games. In order to prepare for the big business opportunity once every four years, the Olympic business war between domestic sports brands has entered a white hot. Li Ning, Anta, 361 degrees, etc. have all put forward the marketing plan for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Li Ning's senior management once said publicly that the core work of this year is Li Ning's Olympic strategy. Li Ning will take advantage of the opportunity of London Olympic Games and sponsor the national team to better connect the image and concept of China's first sports brand Li Ning with Chinese consumers and improve the brand image. It is reported that Li Ning has successfully won the sponsorship of five dream teams in the Chinese Olympic delegation: gymnastics, diving, table tennis, shooting and badminton.

At the same time, some other domestic sports brands are also looking for opportunities for relative differentiation. For example, PEAK will provide multi-dimensional professional equipment for the New Zealand delegation; Hongxingerke has reached an agreement with the Iranian Olympic Committee, and negotiations with the Olympic Committees of South Africa and Uzbekistan are also ongoing; Jordan will design the uniforms for the three teams of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

A well-known sports brand dealer pointed out that the 2012 London Olympic Games, if used well, would be a great opportunity for the brand to turn around. On the contrary, if it is not used well, it is likely to be eliminated.

However, many insiders still believe that the 2012 Olympic Games can hardly be the lifeline for domestic sports brands, because its overseas sales account for a very limited proportion. Taking Li Ning as an example, its 2011 semi annual report shows that the international market sales revenue of Li Ning brand accounts for only 1.7%.

It is undeniable that even if the European Cup and the London Olympic Games are rare business opportunities, the current adjustment cycle shows that domestic sports brands still have difficulties in breaking the game. It will take at least 3-5 years for local sports brands to make structural adjustment.

Xie Xudong of the World Plaza said that at present, the domestic sports brand market is in a saturated state, and most of the shares are occupied by foreign well-known brands. Domestic brands are difficult to survive, and the European Cup and the Olympic Games are just gimmicks. To really stimulate domestic demand, the government and enterprises should guide citizens to pay attention to health and sports, expand sports venues, and increase the publicity of national sports awareness. If consumers have enough time and motivation to exercise, naturally they will also invest in sports consumption, and business opportunities will continue to increase.

Take Guangzhou as an example. Although it has experienced the Asian Games, a major event, the trend of national sports has not continued. Nowadays, the vacancy rate of large sports facilities is very high, and they cannot be used as much as possible.