Li Ning challenges Xiao Anta sports brand children's wear market

At the end of last month, the children's wear brand Parklant finally made public the secret of Li Ning with him. The two domestic well-known brands also located in Beijing formally signed a contract more than a month ago to jointly launch the Li Ning children's wear brand LiNing kids. The products will be available next year.

"Little Li Ning" is not alone, because the domestic sports brand Anta will also launch Anta children's wear in the first quarter of next year. This also means that "Little Li Ning" and "Little Anta" will face Nike and Adidas who have achieved good children's wear next year.

Can a "land snake" win a piece of cake in the children's wear market under the threat of "strong dragon"?

The contest of "athletes"

Li Ning and Anta: The leader in the local sports brand; Nike and Adidas: The "giant" in the international sports brand.

According to a recent semiannual report issued by Li Ning Company, from January to June this year, revenue increased by 32.4% to reach 4.052 billion yuan. Net profit increased by 41.6% to 473 million yuan, surpassing Adidas, the world's second-largest sports brand, for the first time in operating profit. In the first half of the year, Li Ning had 6,809 retail outlets and a net increase of 564 outlets. If this growth rate is estimated, Li Ning’s sales revenue is likely to exceed RMB 8 billion by the end of the year, and thus it will be promoted from the second runner-up to the second runner-up in the sports brand rankings in the Chinese market.

Anta, who started as a small family workshop, has not had Li Ning's prominent sports star background. However, from 1999 to the present, Anta’s sales revenue has increased by several dozen times. In the first half of this year, Anta achieved a good performance, with 6,129 distributors and sales revenue of 2.82 billion yuan. Based on this, in 2009, ANTA's annual sales are expected to exceed 6 billion yuan, which has already ranked No. 1 in the Chinese sports brand. An echelon.

As the world's largest supplier of sports products, Nike is also in the "biggest" position in the Chinese market. Adidas followed closely, even during the Beijing Olympic Games, announced that with 22% of the market share over Nike's 21%, becoming the first brand in China's sportswear market. However, although sales of Nike and Adidas increased by more than 20% last year, this year's situation is not optimistic. In the third quarter of this year, Adidas’ operating profit fell by 29%, and its sales decreased by 7% year-on-year, marking the largest decline compared to the first two quarters of this year.

Belle is the largest distributor of Nike and Adidas in mainland China. Its 2009 first-half results announcement shows that its agency Nike and Adidas revenue was 3.32 billion yuan, which is an increase compared to 3.24 billion yuan in the same period of 2008, but it is growing. The rate is only 2.5%. In addition, the performance of Reebok and Adidas sub-brand Reebok has also declined. And Daphne, another agent of many international big names such as Adidas, Nike, and Converse, recently announced that it will fully withdraw from the sports brand agency business. According to its first-half report, Daphne closed 21 Adidas sales points in the first half of this year and plans to close all Nike stores within the year.

Although Nike and Adidas still firmly occupy the high-end market in the sports brand echelon, Li Ning and the Jinjiang sports brand headed by Anta have significantly faster sales network development. And this year, after years of rapid growth in the sports market, many brands have encountered the problem of oversupply. The initial revelation of the industry reshuffling and opening up new profit growth points have become new appeals for domestic and foreign sports brands.

"Kids" game

Compared with the fierce fight in the sportswear market, the children's wear market is obviously a soft and delicious cake.

In 2010, the number of newborn babies in our country will usher in the fourth peak period, and the birth rate will continue to decline until 2030. As the children's consumer market is huge, the children's industry will be in a good time for development in the next 20 years. The infant and children's wear and youth sportswear will become an important growth point for the children's wear market in the future. At present, the children's wear market not only attracts many professional children's wear brands at home and abroad, but also enables Haier and other non-clothing companies to enter the industry across borders.

Although the children's wear market is a market with great growth potential in China, the current production of children's wear only accounts for about 10% of the total national apparel production. Luo Jianfan, President of Beijing Pikelandi Co., Ltd. told this reporter that compared with the development status of sports brands, children's wear is considered as a category. At present, China's children's wear market has just started and is in an early stage of competition. It is still not mature enough. The market needs to be further subdivided and there is still much room for growth in the future.

All these factors have become the reason why sports brand companies are determined to enter the children's wear industry.

At present, the sports children's wear market has emerged a large number of domestic and foreign brands at the low end of the high school. Among them, foreign children's wear brands account for 50% of the total. Adidas children's wear and Nike children's wear are well-known.

Since the financial crisis, the Chinese adult sports market has seen a gradual decline of foreign brands and local brands. However, the “foreign big names” in the children's wear market is proud. For example, this year, Nike narrowed the front line of domestic sportswear, shut down some factories including its own factory in China, but opened up a new children's wear product line, and introduced a new 1.3m children's clothing for children. series. In May of this year, Adidas children's wear ranked first in the Northeast, East China, South Central, and Northwest China. Nike children's wear ranked second in the Northeast and East China.

The other 50% market share of the children's wear market is occupied by domestic companies, but only 30% of them are the share of brand children's wear, and the remaining 70% are still in a state of no brand competition. Luo Jianfan believes that consumers are increasing their demand for sports and leisure children's clothing year by year, and awareness of brand consumption is also rising rapidly. Nike and Adidas are high-end children's wear, and their products are relatively single, with little coverage. The price of Li Ning children's wear is set at a medium-higher level, which can cover more consumer groups. Anta President Ding Zhizhong also revealed that "Anta KIDS" children's clothing is positioned in the mid-range market.

How did "Little Li Ning" and "Xiao An Ta" defeat "Little Nike" and "Little Adidas"? Differentiated competition on pricing is obviously a common trump for the two. In addition, on the sales channels, Li Ning and Anta are based on the principle of “separation between adults and children”. Li Ning children's clothing store will occupy a number of shopping malls in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places next year, and attract many franchisees in second-tier cities. Ding Zhizhong, president of Anta, introduced that “Anta KIDS” will open up sales channels and not sell at current Anta stores, but flagship stores in major cities will be mixed with current Anta adult brands.

Who is the winner?

What new changes will the sports brand enter into the field of children's wear? Luo Jianfan believes that the children's wear industry has its own characteristics, and the entry threshold is low, but the scale of the scale is high, and it is very difficult for children's clothing companies to form a scale. In the early stage of the development of the domestic children's wear industry, there are many small brands, and they are very single in terms of sales channels. Most of the brands are only department stores. This is a very preliminary performance of children's clothing development.

Luo Jianfan stated that the competition in the Chinese children's wear market is rather confusing. This problem is caused by companies. However, the market is now accelerating changes. In the future, competition will be standardized, and some competitive children's wear enterprises will gain an advantage. After the industry matures, it will find more development paths like other clothing categories.

“The domestic children's wear has no problem with a single product, but the overall level is weak.” Luo Jianfan made an analogy. “Like a pupil and a writer, the level is very far apart. For example, many Chinese children’s wear styles are casual. Adding a little sport and a bit of fashion and lack of creativity are the gaps between domestic small and medium-sized brands and foreign countries, which is why many consumers like foreign brands. However, foreign excellent brands are also rare, and it is believed that Chinese companies still have a lot to offer."

“The Chinese market is a market that can create miracles. No unified model can cover the entire industry. Each company has its own path, and it will form a model that suits itself. It does not necessarily reflect that it is foreign, and the key is who does it. Well, well-run companies can go abroad, and those who do badly may not even keep their homes." Luo Jianfan said that China's children's wear will have the opportunity to participate in international competition instead of passively waiting for Others to come in and act as agents or processors. In the next decade, China's children's clothing will undergo great changes in the domestic market integration, the emergence of new models, and participation in international competition.

Obviously, a fierce competition has already begun, and with the intensification of competition, it will also change the existing pattern of the children's clothing industry. Can “Strong Dragon” suppress the “land snake” in the future? It is still a mystery.