The Era Of Opening Stores To Make Money Is Over Anta Wants To Be An Industry Follower

In Jinjiang, even leading brands like Anta are not thinking about "expansion", but how to "guard the country". In the Anta factory store near the Anta headquarters in Chidian Town, once you enter, you can see rows of T-shirts priced as low as 20 or 30 yuan each; Only 50 yuan for a pair of sports shoes 。 Walking in Chendai Town, where there are many shoe brands, many sports brands can be seen everywhere to attract customers with signs starting from 9 yuan or at least 10% or 20% off.

　　 The era of opening stores to make money ends

In the downward cycle of the domestic sporting goods industry, Anta suffered its first performance decline since its listing in 2007 in 2012. A few days ago, Anta Sports released its 2012 annual report, which showed that the company's operating income in 2012 was 7.623 billion yuan, and its net profit was 1.359 billion yuan, down 14.4% and 21.5% year on year.

Since the first half of last year, Anta Sports' performance has declined for the first time. According to the 2012 annual report, Anta Sports' operating revenue decreased by 14.4% year-on-year to 7.623 billion yuan, its net profit decreased by 21.5% year-on-year to 1.359 billion yuan, and its gross profit margin also decreased by 4.3 percentage points to 38%.

Since its listing five years ago, Anta's performance has declined for the first time. According to Anta's annual report, the increase in inventory and continued closing of stores are still the main problems Anta faces. The annual report shows that Anta's inventory increased by 11.17% to 687 million yuan compared with 618 million yuan in 2011, and accounts receivable reached 1.37 billion yuan. The average number of days of inventory turnover increased by 13 to 51 days on a year-on-year basis, and the number of days of accounts receivable turnover increased by 8 to 34 days.

In view of the inventory problem, Lai Shixian, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Anta, said at the performance conference that the company's inventory decreased by about 90 million yuan in 2012, mainly because of support for individual dealers and order adjustment. In terms of stores, the number of stores of Anta Sports decreased by 590 last year, but the number of children's sporting goods stores increased by 99 to 833. At the same time, Anta also said that it would continue to reduce 475 to 575 stores this year.

In 2010, Anta earned a net income of 1.551 billion yuan. In 2011, many shoe enterprises, including Anta, pointed to the "Ten Thousand Store Plan". Anta is the first to experience the benefits of high-speed store opening clothing Enterprise. A dealer familiar with Anta's distribution model said that the most direct way to speed up the market share of products is to operate more stores.

Last Saturday, at Anta headquarters in Chidian Town, Jinjiang City, the reporter interviewed Ding Zhimin, senior manager and president assistant of Anta Sports Strategic Management Center. Now, when it comes to the "Wandian Plan" that Anta once praised, Anta's attitude is much lower. Ding Zhimin said, "Now the industry is in a phased downward cycle. For Anta, what is more important than opening stores and expanding store scale is to improve the efficiency of single stores and optimize channels, not to focus on the number of stores."

Xu Zhenkun, general manager of Fujian Cheng'an Shoes, said that under the influence of financial crisis, sluggish domestic demand and other factors Clothes & Accessories The growth of brands has slowed down, and the era of sales growth relying on opening stores has ended.

　 The management of shoe enterprises is generally low-key

In 2010, Lai Shixian, chief operating officer of Anta, said that Anta's retail sales in that year were expected to become the first in the country for local brands, and it was expected to surpass Nike and Adidas in three to five years.

Now, let's talk about the prospect of the company again. Ding Zhimin told reporters: "We'd better do our own thing first. It's better to be a follower, and this comparison is not very suitable." Anta's 2012 financial report showed that the company's free cash inflow reached 1.61 billion yuan, up 32% year on year, while the dividend payout ratio was 71.7%, a record high.

The industry is sluggish. Many local sporting goods companies in Jinjiang are keen on speculating in real estate, mining, and even investing in the entertainment industry, with strong cash flow. As for whether Anta is likely to "engage in sideline business" in the future, Ding Zhimin said: "Anta is more willing to focus on the field of sports goods. Even if it makes investment in the future, it will only purchase similar sports goods companies. Just like the acquisition of Italian brand FILA in 2009. There is no new investment target at present, but it depends on the timing."

When listed companies issued their annual reports this year, the media intensively reported the phenomenon of high "inventory" of footwear and clothing brands, which even affected the stock price to some extent. Now some brand managers are cautious when they hear about "inventory".

Zhao Feng, Director of 361 Sports Market Center, told reporters: "In fact, both local and foreign brands are facing the phenomenon of inventory. Inventory is accumulated over time, and clearing inventory cannot be done overnight, but it is a process of slow digestion. Moreover, there are great differences between domestic regions at present, and the consumption level of different regions is different. Inventory is not necessarily all unsalable goods, and some consumers like to buy new products Some consumers like to buy discount products with high cost performance. Inventory is not necessarily a problem for enterprises, which may also bring more choices to other consumers. ".

"Of course, the energy of shoe enterprises will not be focused on clearing inventory. For shoe enterprises, open source is always more important than saving money," Zhao Feng said.

Ding Zhimin, senior manager of Anta Sports Strategic Management Center, also said: "The company is doing reasonable control over inventory through scientific orders. For example, the launch of new products will not be a mass production. Instead, it will produce a batch of products first, and then decide whether to add production or stop production according to the sales feedback in the store."

Even shoes and clothing brands are not very happy to talk about "inventory" phenomenon. However, local people know that in recent years, many shoes and clothing brands in Chendai Town will hold special sales parties in clusters during the Spring Festival. For example, the original price of a pair of shoes of special walk and 361 degrees is more than 200 yuan, and then dozens of yuan can be bought. The original price of Lilang men's clothes is more than 2000 clothes After the discount, it only costs about 200 yuan.

The year-end special sale of Jinjiang footwear and clothing enterprises has gradually evolved from the original special sale with the nature of employees' internal welfare into an effective form of inventory elimination for enterprises today.