Sports Brand Shutting Shops, Throwing Goods, Actively Coping With Industry Plight And Seeking Survival

"Sale" is for "going stock", behind which is another wave of "closing shop tide". China's several sports brands recently released the annual report shows that "shop tide" is still continuing, in the first half of this year, Lining The six major brands of China, 360, Anta, PEAK and XTEP have closed 2249 stores. The number of sales outlets in PEAK in the first half of this year was 6194, down 12.3% from last year, 289 in the first half of this year, 7435 in retail outlets, 75 at the end of last year, and 7834 in the first half of the year, 263 at the end of last year, and 601 in the first half of the year in 12.3%.

In terms of turnover, XTEP's first business income declined in the first 5 years, and its operating income in the first half of the year was 2 billion 98 million yuan, down 19.5% from the same period last year. Net profit was 340 million 900 thousand yuan, down 27.1% from the same period last year. In the first half of, the volume of sales decreased by 14.4% to 3 billion 370 million yuan, and net profit fell 18.7% to 626 million yuan, according to the China Daily. At the same time, PEAK's net profit decreased by 62.5% to 90 million yuan. The net profit fell by 65.5% over the same period, hitting a record high in the industry.

From several major Sports brand The results of the "high school entrance examination" report are still not satisfactory. The industry is still not out of the predicament of decline. Operating income and profits are still in a state of double decline, and the prospect of industry recovery is still not optimistic.

　　 Overall downturn in the industry

Terminal channel expansion, advertising investment, event sponsorship... Before and after 2000, the sports brand of Fujian welcomed the trend of development.

Back in 1999, Anta With the mode of "CCTV + sports stars", we will rapidly increase sales and achieve rapid development. In the following years, according to statistics, more than 40 Quanzhou sports brands imitated the "licensing" mode, and invited celebrities and CCTV in succession. Some even laugh at the fact that CCTV sports channel has become the "Jinjiang channel".

From small workshops to self created brands to financing and listing, many Fujian sports equipment enterprises are walking the same road, and the speed of their brand development is amazing. Industry insiders say that since 2000, sports brand has ushered in the "golden ten years" of the industry. In addition to the fastest ten years of China's economic development, it also took the express of the Beijing Olympic Games. In 2009, Lining first exceeded the international brand Adidas with the annual sales of 8 billion 387 million yuan, becoming the second industry. Other brands such as Anta are enjoying the "bonus cake" of the industry as a whole.

But perhaps "happiness" comes too fast, and the sports brand industry is not standardized, that is, on the fast lane, "drop the chain" on the fast track. After the peak of 2008, the development of sporting goods industry began to slow down in recent years. The natural growth of consumers alone has been unable to support the whole market. Since the second half of 2011, under the background of sluggish demand, overcapacity and over expansion of industries, sports brands have encountered unprecedented sales difficulties and are in a dilemma of high inventory.

In the first half of 2012, the total inventory of 6 domestic sports brands such as Lining was as high as 3 billion 721 million yuan. In the rush hour, the stock of sports shoes and clothing in Quanzhou even amounted to ten billion yuan. Subsequently, Lining took the lead in closing 1200 stores. In the third quarter of 2012, PEAK closed 1067 after that, and then closed 239 at the end of 2012. Anta cut 110 stores in the first half of 2012. In the two quarter of 2013, XTEP orders fell 15% to 20%, Anta fell 15% to 25% compared with the same period last year, and PEAK fell to 20% to 30%. The industry is in distress.

Zhao Xianglin, manager of XTEP marketing department, said: "2012 is a tough year for the domestic sports brand, but the problem has not yet been completely broken out, and the more difficult time is this year."

　　 Self rescue of contraction front

"The sequelae of high inventory have a great impact. This year, almost all sporting goods companies are clearing stocks." Insiders pointed out that in the face of high inventory pressure, Fujian sports brands have been shrinking the front line. Some leading enterprises are also stepping up their structural adjustment, closing down a number of stores with weak profitability, increasing investment in profitable shops, and speeding up transformation to retailers, stepping up the layout of e-commerce and expanding the new space for online sales.

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A series of measures have been adopted, including the cancellation of a number of orders that have not yet been produced with the distributor agreement, resulting in a reduction of 23% in 2013 spring / summer orders. Meanwhile, at the spring and summer ordering meeting in 2013, the discount rate for wholesalers increased from 58% to 60%. In addition, retailers also provided retailers with an allowance of about 203 million yuan to improve their display and refurbishment of shopping environments.

In order to enable dealers to better regulate the market, PEAK in the process of shutting down thousands of stores last year, it also made a comprehensive adjustment to the dealers nationwide, and turned all its direct stores in Fujian into franchisees. The Anta company is to let Brand Company and the largest distributors share shares between each other, and is dubbed "a bunch of grenades together". This approach ensures the close relationship between Brand Company and distributors from the system, and can also move back in some interests.

While shrinking the front line, several major sports brands also actively plan for innovation. According to the exhibition of new products, some enterprises begin to march from sports to children, outdoor and leisure fields. If PEAK is actively looking for new growth momentum, its public relations director, Liu Xiang, has revealed the future plan of PEAK. "On the basis of basketball, PEAK will also enrich other categories, such as running series, women's series, and so on."

Ding Shizhong, chairman of the board of directors of Anta, said that the worst period has passed. Although the industry still faces great challenges and the situation is still very complicated, Anta has improved a lot after more than a year's efforts. It is understood that the first order of the first quarter of 2014, Anta's order amount has been the first time since the third quarter of 2012, the growth rate is "high single digit".

　　 Finding new growth drivers

"Sports in China have been highly commercialized, but socialization is not enough. There are few folk sports associations. Grassroots sports can not be fully developed. Individual consumers do not have a heritage "club" for sports. The sports products they choose are always random, and almost all of them choose the world's top brands. A senior sports researcher is an analysis.

Insiders pointed out that the most important problem of Chinese sportswear is the serious homogenization of products, whether they are fabrics, styles or quality. They are all round neckshirts, pure cotton is pure cotton.

For this reason, experts pointed out that for the sporting goods market that is in the adjustment period, the listing fever will continue to be staged, and the new era of capital operation and competition will also start. To break through the bottleneck of development, sports brands should move forward from the end of the industrial chain to the upper end. The enterprise itself has clear strategic planning and profit growth channels for its future.

It is understood that at present, Fujian's sporting goods enterprises are further optimizing and extending the industrial chain through mergers and acquisitions, cross-border transformation and resource integration, and are looking for new growth drivers.

Ding Shizhong, chairman of the board of directors of Anta, has previously admitted that there are more than 10 sports brands that are doing well. But after this round of shuffling, the overcapacity of the industry will be effectively adjusted. In the next 5 years, there will be many sports brands that can survive, but 5 of the well managed sports brands are already very good.