PEAK'S Road To The United States Is Still Cloudy.

January 2010, New York West 34 street, a cold winter day. The largest sporting goods online retailer in the world FootLocker Headquarters came to an unexpected visitor from Losangeles. The guest brought two super large suitcases, stuffed with more than 40 pairs of basketball shoes. These sneakers are very valuable original designs. You can find them from the feet of Shane Battier and nuggets center Battier (JaVale McGee). CEO, PEAK's US subsidiary, Su Jia, is confident that it will sign a big business. Foot Locker has more than 7000 stores. Once PEAK enters a single item, even if it has only 10% distribution rates, the order amount of a single store 120 pairs will be up to tens of thousands of dollars per 100 US dollars.

This is a long-awaited visit. PEAK group CEO Xu Zhi Hua Expect Canon to open up the situation. But it was much harder than expected. 6 months ago, when Su Jia visited Foot Locker headquarters, Su Zeng called Foot Locker's senior buyers hoping to meet them. Finally, she turned to several players' agents. Xu Zhihua also made a visit to a senior American manager in Itochu, Japan.

But Su Jia still closed the door. Foot Locker's picky buyers didn't want to order. "At the very beginning, I was naive to think that the opening of the Chinese market to the United States market may not work. The players' products should be all right." "The result is not good," she said. The reason why Foot Locker buyers refuse it is strange that PEAK shoes are light enough, but the naked eye is not light enough. Ordinary consumers can not perceive their technological content from appearance and material, so they lack the desire to buy. Buyers threatened that Foot Locker would not waste time if they did not make consumers feel "light". Foot Locker also has a finicky working cycle. Its sample confirmation takes more than two months, and product planning is three years ahead of schedule.

Xu Zhihua also felt the internal pressure. At the board of directors, he was bombarded by external directors from Sequoia, Jiayin, Lenovo and so on. The latter is worried that PEAK will lose its way by expanding the US market. Feedback from the capital market also converged - Citibank analysts had issued a negative analysis, and PEAK's share price plummeted. "Many analysts and financial investors only focus on current financial performance - how much money they put in each dollar they invest. My concern is much longer. " Xu Zhihua said.

I can't wait. In December 2011, PEAK's first basketball theme shop was invested in the two floor of Westerfield mall, Losangeles. 3 months later, another shop opened in Melrose street, Hollywood, Losangeles. For a long time, PEAK has become the sponsor of NBA club after Nike and Adidas. Its trademark registration countries and regions have more than 160, with a total of more than 200 overseas outlets, and overseas sales account for about 10% of turnover. However, PEAK sales in the US market are almost zero. Now, Xu is determined to land and try.

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For Su Jia, the blow of failure is more devastating - he was the largest in Chongqing. Peak The annual turnover of distributors is as high as several hundred million yuan. In order to enter the US market, Su even gave up his business.

In 2008, as an "elite", Jason Kidd was invited to attend the signing ceremony of the signing of the United States signed by Jason Kidd. He was selected to accompany Xu Zhihua to the market in New York, Washington, Las Vegas, and other places. A year later, the shop opened formally in the United States, and millet was designated as "Garcia".

Foot Locker plays an important role in the industry. The secret of its success is that its shoes are unique in style and attract many followers. Foot Locker is very good at promoting sports shoes sales by sports events and star battalions, such as the popular street ball and the 3 to 3 basketball match, etc. Foot Locker plays the role of initiator. This is what PEAK lacks.

There are basically the following types of sporting goods retail in the United States: professional sporting goods stores, specialized shops, professional coaches, sporting goods stores, discount stores, storage sports goods supermarkets, department stores, mail orders, etc. But it is still a professional retail store like Foot Locker. The reason lies in the fact that under the development of retail chain and large-scale development, the sales channel of sporting goods in the United States has been reduced to only one to two levels. Sporting goods companies do not sell directly through a company or entrust agents to send products directly to retail outlets. Only a small part of it will be sold to wholesalers through wholesalers because of the vast territory of the United States. Generally speaking, a larger chain retailer usually orders directly from the manufacturer. In addition to the huge and chain businesses, there are many small retailers in the United States. However, these retailers are small in size or remote in location, usually unable to meet the minimum order quantity ordered by manufacturers, so they must be stocked through wholesalers or purchasing groups.

Xu Zhihua hopes to work together with both Foot Locker and other professional retailers on the one hand and develop proprietary stores on the other hand. The latter is boldly different from the domestic monopoly store mode. PEAK statistics found that Nike has only about 20 Nike Town in the US, and Adidas is almost zero. In the US sports retail market, the large retailer channel occupies nearly 50% of the market share. In the past year, Foot Locker has exceeded the sales volume of Nike and Adidas in the US. In the next 5 years, its annual revenue will exceed $7 billion 500 million. But in Xu Zhihua's view, the direct camp is also a must - interest agent who can not undertake the meticulous work such as player service, R & D, and so on.

The halo effect of NBA makes PEAK do not lack the opportunity to make quick money in the United States. Some people are looking for exclusive agents. There are many famous people. Perry Rogers (Perry Rogers), the "big shark" Shack ONeil (Shaquille O 'Neal), is among them. Rodgers even invited Xu Zhihua to visit his family. This meeting gave Xu Zhihua a deeper understanding of American pleasure. There is a luxurious basketball court, bowling alley and movie theater in Rodgers's mansion, which makes many of the Lakers' players eager. Rodgers wants to fully represent PEAK products, but does not undertake derivative functions such as research and development.

For millet, the most important problem is that PEAK has no channel resources. In the early years, PEAK shoes exported to the United States in the form of trade, but these scattered orders made PEAK unable to track its flow and failed to establish effective channel partners. American retail channels are mostly buyers. These professional buyers have no way to approach PEAK. Su once lost the opportunity to visit many retailers including Foot Locker, Champs, Footaction, department store, Messi and Macy, but they were all refused. Buyers would not receive strangers unless they had made an appointment.

In addition, although there are many brands in professional stores, the average number of products displayed by each brand is not large. There are only about dozens of products. These products emphasize the sense of technology and professionalism without exception. "Americans worship science and technology. If there is no scientific and technological content, good design can not support high prices." Said Su Jia. A senior buyer once told millet that the key to selling the sports shoes in the market is the frantic light and the visible technology content. This is also the two military rule that PEAK sells to the US market now.

China's sporting goods brand has no shortage of experience in developing the US market. In 2007, Lining set up a research and development center in Portland, USA, opened a brand experience shop, and worked with Champs and other sports brand distributors. Lining insisted on playing high and high. The number of its employees in the United States was over 50. The average price of the product was over 100 dollars, which is the same price as Nike America. But Lining did not have enough brand awareness in the United States, and the product was soon backlog. Champs eventually dumped its products at 4.99 or 9.99 dollars.

"The failure of our peers has given us much inspiration. For us, the first choice is to open our own shop. " Xu Zhihua said. In 2012, Xu's goal was to sell US $10 million in the US market.