What Is The Opportunity For Anta To Seize The Market For Running Shoes?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, in the sports shoes industry, Robbie Fowler (Robbie Fuller) is a well-known name.

After graduating from North Carolina State University, I love

He then entered Adidas to become a sports shoe.

Later, she was promoted to senior design director. In the 10 years he worked in German brand, Robbie Fowler's shoes included basketball, running and leisure. He designed Crazy Light Boost, Crazy quick, and lad, Ross and wall's signature boots.

With the rapid growth of China's sports market,

Robbie Fowler was one of the designers who began to attract international vision and experience.

In February 2016, Americans joined Anta as the creative director of footwear.

Robbie has been stationed in Xiamen for nearly three years, and now Fowler can blurt out many Chinese words, which is one of his more familiar with this land and market.

After joining Anta, one of Robbie Fowler's masterpieces was the Clay Thompson boot KT3-Rocco, which was queued up by thousands of people in San Francisco in the United States in March 2018.

As the chief designer of key products such as KT3 and KT4, he is helping Anta to break through the basketball field.

Now, one of this senior designer's focus is running shoes: near the end of 2018, the latest A-FLASHFOAM Anta wormhole technology running shoes came out, this is the most important technology and product of Anta running category, and the design team led by Robbie Fuller focused on this product, which shows Anta's attention to the running category of Anta.

Undoubtedly, as the most basic category in sports industry, the running market has entered the golden period in China.

The "2018 online sports consumption trend big data report" shows that from 2016 to 2018, the sales of sports shoes continued to grow and the annual growth rate reached 18%, among which running shoes were most popular.

By the end of 2018, with the help of wormhole technology running shoes, Anta officially announced its main brand to set up a running department and issued a comprehensive attack on the market.

Li Ling, vice president of Anta group, said in an exclusive interview: "this is an important move for Anta brand to differentiate itself from consumer demand and professional sports needs, just like Anta basketball department of that year."

And Gao Zhexiang, director of Anta running category, also stressed that the proportion of running classes in Anta's business and role positioning are very "heavy", and the future will become more and more important.

After basketball, Anta's running ambition

In the 2017 fiscal year, Anta's annual business income increased by 25.1% to 16 billion 700 million yuan, ranking first in the domestic sports brand.

This figure almost doubled second times, and it was a little more comfortable.

Among them, regardless of sales contribution or brand image, basketball business plays an important role in Anta. It was once the only sport category in Anta with independent business unit.

Xu Yang, general manager of Anta basketball department, told reporters that under the impetus of Clay Thompson's popularity, the 2018 Anta basketball "mad" series of products ran 500 million.

At that time, "KT1 (Thompson generation war boots) sold 100 thousand pairs, KT2 sold 20 tens of thousands of pairs, close to 300 thousand pairs, KT3 is expected to reach 500 thousand pairs."

By the end of 2018, running has officially become the category of Anta's second establishment division. It will focus on developing, promoting and running directly related shoes and clothing with subdivision products.

And soon, the main brand of Anta will also be divided into comprehensive training division.

Li Ling disclosed: "the management of these subdivision departments is to enhance the comprehensive strategic planning of the corresponding categories, and promote the professional interaction between Anta brand and consumers from commodity terminal, marketing terminal, retail terminal, and category system."

At present, basketball and running are two important areas of the brand.

Gao Zhexiang, director of Anta running category, explained that "from the strategic decision point of view, basketball is an important part of Anta's internationalization.

And the share of running shoes is very high in Anta.

The aim of Anta running division is to cover all market audiences from professional to public.

To seize the market share, we naturally need excellent products, A-FLASHFOAM worm hole technology, which is the main research and development achievement of Anta running.

The technology was first unveiled in 2017.

According to the introduction, R & D personnel in the principle of the wormhole design inspiration, phantom material can maintain the high energy stability of the wormhole, while the external high-energy output, the internal energy will be re pformed and absorbed.

With this principle, the impact force generated by landing can be slowly induced and absorbed by particles, and the energy will be converted into rebound force by high density compressed particles, so that it has high resilience.

After a year, Anta now releases an upgraded version of A-FLASHFOAM wormhole technology running shoes.

According to the main designer Robbie Fowler, the material height and width is 20% higher than the old one, and it has many properties such as shock, springback, light pmission and so on. The shoe body is lighter.

Robbie Fowler said: "after two upgrading, A-FLASHFOAM Anta worm hole technology has further improved in materials and technology. It not only brings more color and shape choices to the shape of the new wormhole shoes, but also effectively lightens the weight of the soles and effectively improves the product performance."

Let Anta proud data from the marathon race: the brand for the 2018 Beijing marathon 2000 runners to provide A-FLASHFOAM wormhole Technology North horse customized C202 running shoes, of which more than more than 700 people wear this pair of running shoes to achieve the best personal results.

In Gao Zhexiang's view, such data is the result of running shoes technology. "As the mainstream trend of the industry, we hope to develop materials technology that can meet the needs of professional runners and meet the daily needs of runners."

A-FLASHFOAM worm hole technology can help Anta "run" where it is still unknown.

But at present, this soles technology has been relatively mature, applied to many kinds of sports shoes, including running, training and KT basketball shoes, to achieve the whole brand's feeding role - "according to different sports needs, the hardness of the design is different."

Market competition and technology competition.

Since the track and Field Association abolished the examination and approval authority in 2015, the marathon race blowout has surged from 39 games in 2013 to 1102 in 2017.

The track and Field Association of China predicts that this figure will continue to rise.

The growth of running events satisfies the demand and stimulates the enthusiasm of runners.

At the same time, this will inevitably lead to the development of the running industry in China, and the running shoe market will be the biggest beneficiary.

In early 2018, the burning running community launched a nationwide runner research project. The participants were people who had a daily running distance of 10 km or more and had a steady running habit. The conclusion was that the running cost of running shoes was 2036 yuan per year.

Jingdong's big data report shows that about 40% of runners have 3 to 4 pairs of running shoes.

In the face of its huge commercial potential, Anta recognizes that the Chinese running shoes market is showing a contending situation with a hundred schools of thought contending. Every brand sees business opportunities, and every family is developing new technologies.

In detail, the current competition in the running shoes market is centered on the functional footwear of the city, that is, when it has excellent function, it also combines fashion with daily matching to meet the needs of consumers to switch between sports and life.

In 2004, Nike released Nike Free 1.0, blurred the boundaries between running shoes and casual shoes, and was considered to be the beginning of a new era of running shoes, leading a simple and fashionable trend of running shoes.

Since then, the development of running shoes has gradually expanded from the professional players in Pyramid to the general public, and began to integrate users with different needs such as runners, runners and elite players.

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As the two largest brands in the world, Nike and Adidas running shoes products are still outstanding in the integration of fashion and technology.

Though not a dedicated running brand, Nike and Adidas are the most well-known brands of Chinese runners with strong global influence and marketing capabilities.

Adidas's Boost technology is most representative - this is the solo technology developed by the German brand since 2007, and thousands of micro energy capsules have strong resilience. These small particles are molded into the sole of running shoes, and the related products are available in 2013.

With Boost technology, Adidas's share of the American shoe market has risen from 2% in 2013 to 9% today.

According to the data of StockX, a sports shoe sold on its platform in 2017, Boost Technology shoes accounted for 48.9%.

In 2017, Nike launched the Zoomx technology to regain some of the market.

In contrast, the traditional cognitively four major international shoe brands, New Balance, Asics, Brooks and Saucony, which own their core technologies, are somewhat lacking in the Chinese market.

Asics is the only Asian brand that ranks among the world's top four running shoes. Japan's brand has become one of the most popular brands in the Chinese market and its user loyalty is higher depending on geographical advantages and the design of Asian feet.

The first three quarters of fiscal year 2018 showed that Asics sales and net profits fell sharply. But thanks to the excellent performance of nearly 20% in China, sales in East Asia increased by 6.2%, and the Chinese market was regarded as the fig leaf of Japan's running shoes brand.

Although the centenary New Balance has a significant position in China's young consumer market, in May 2018, New T.DeMartini CEO Robert T.DeMartini admitted in an interview with reporters that the brand's Retro tidal shoes have been popular among the people, but sales of professional running shoes are hard to match with the ancient products, and the brand is still seeking change.

In addition, in 2015, the Saucony of the Chinese market was officially expanded. Because of the lack of progress at the marketing side, it was very weak.

In 2017, Brooks entered China for only three months, and was immediately prosecuted for trademark issues, and was forced to temporarily withdraw from this potential market.

Under the multi polarization opening pattern, local sports companies such as Anta, XTEP, 361 degree and PEAK actually have opportunities.

The ten years before 2008 were considered to be the golden period of growth in the domestic sports market, but at that time there was a strong demand for the market and the sports brand could survive in the extensive mode.

But the consequence is that for a long time, there is a lack of technology and product innovation.

Nowadays, with the increase of sports level and product requirements of mainstream consumer groups, sports brands can only compete with international brands only by increasing product R & D innovation.

Therefore, like Anta's wormhole technology, increasing investment in scientific research and telling science and technology stories become the main choice of local brands.

In December 15th, PEAK released the first running shoes with "polar" midsole technology, and the first online limited running shoes were sold out in 51 seconds.

A week later, PEAK in Guangzhou, Ningbo, Shenyang three stores continue to limit the sale of 999 pairs of products, the price of 499 yuan, also sold out quickly, domestic consumers for cost-effective technology running shoes demand.

The 361 degree focused on the international line of professional running shoes and won awards abroad, in order to boost its reputation and resell the domestic market.

In 2017, when the 361 degree research and development center was established, Wei Shutao, director of the sports science research center, told reporters that the goal of the brand is to complete the development of core footwear technology within 15 years, just like Boost in Adidas.

Another local brand, XTEP, betting earlier on the field of running.

Since the birth of X-Dynamic Foam, which was independently developed in 2015, this technology has been updated to the fourth generation.

At the same time, in 2017, XTEP sponsored the 40 running event, which is a local sports brand sponsoring the most marathons.

According to the survey of the market share of the whole horse running shoe race completed last year, XTEP accounted for 10.5% of the Beijing marathon, 9.1% of the Guangzhou marathon, and 20% of the Xiamen International Marathon, ranking the top of the domestic brand.

"Local brands have made some achievements in the field of running, but in core technology, they are on the road, and no brand technology has global influence or overwhelming advantage for the time being," a running shoe appraiser told reporters.

In fact, Adidas's Boost has been developed from 2007 to the first show in 2013 for 7 years, and the longest developing midsole technology Nike Shox in Nike brand history even took 16 years.

The formation of a classic technology takes a long time to polish, and local enterprises obviously need to be patient.

Robbie Fowler also revealed that Anta spent 3 years on the material selection of A-FLASHFOAM wormhole technology, and has not yet included the follow-up process of product design, and he also admitted that wormhole technology needs more time to upgrade and upgrade in the future.

In addition to increasing the development of independent technology, Anta will also increase experiential retail in the face of fierce competition in domestic brands.

Gao Zhexiang, director of Anta running category, said: "both domestic and international brands are participating in the competition. For runners, it is not only technology but also experience. Next, Anta will also think about this angle. We have good technology and good experience.

I used to be a runner too, and I realized how important it is for the public to experience this. "

Force 2019, sports year is not "small"

For Anta's running department, 2019 is the key year.

Near the end of the year, Anta's leading investment group acquired the full ownership of Amer Sports Corporation, which is a major concern of the sports consumer market. In December 7th, Anta consortium with Fang Yuan capital, Anamered Investments and Tencent announced that it would offer a cash offer through the newly established Mascot Bidco Oy company, with an overall purchase price of about 4 billion 600 million euros.

According to Li Ling, vice president of Anta group, the group will continue to focus on "single focus, multi brand and all channel" strategy. "The company has seven brands, and the acquisition of amamin sports is in progress. The multi branding strategy meets the diversified needs of consumers at different levels under different consumer scenarios, but the core of Anta group is still around the sports equipment business."

Under the multi brand strategy, Anta has the international brand in China, including sports fashion brand FILA, Korean outdoor brand Kolon, mountaineering brand Sprandi, winter sports brand Descente and children's wear brand Kingkow.

If you take the AMF sports, it means to include its tennis racket Wilson, mountaineering shoes Salomon, baseball equipment Louisville Slugger, outdoor equipment, ebb and skiing equipment Atomic and other brands.

In addition to Anta's main brand, it will fully cover the market segments.

At the same time, Anta attaches importance to the establishment of brand image in international competitions. In 2018, the Winter Olympic Games and the Asian Games can be seen as the degree of attention and devotion. We can imagine the next investment for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

In 2019, it was obviously an important moment for the running department in the whole brand matrix.

The establishment of the running department shows that Anta attaches importance to the segmentation.

The latest A-FLASHFOAM Anta wormhole technology running shoes came out, supporting considerable strength, Anta two brand spokesmen Zhang Jike and Guan Xiaotong came to the scene, also invited the "101 women group" topic character Wang Ju appeared together.

At present, the technological progress of running shoes has also been recognized by the group.

Li Ling believes that the establishment of exclusive team will be conducive to all aspects of reshaping the brand.

Of course, for the running department, challenges and pressures exist at the same time. According to Li Ling's statement, "I hope these departments will grow into market leaders like Anta basketball in their market."

Leading the market is the goal of subdivision, and the status of the whole group brand matrix is the future.

Including Anta technology research and development achievements, Anta is satisfied with its marketing, retail terminal upgrading and technology research and development in 2018.

"This year, through the major international competitions, from the Pingchang Winter Olympics to the Jakarta Asian Games, and then to the Argentina Youth Olympic Games, Anta brand has made fruitful cooperation with China sports," Li Ling said. "Including our national sports equipment designed for the national team to represent the Chinese elements in various competitions, we get very good feedback from the market."

In November 2018, Anta put forward the "value retail" strategy, through the wisdom of retail applications to master the consumption of big data, to study consumer trends and demand changes, and guide product design and retail terminal planning.

In addition, technology products including wormhole technology, KT basketball shoes and other technology products have led to performance growth.

According to convention, the first quarter of 2019, Anta group will issue 2018 financial report.

Whether basketball or running shoes and other categories, or the effectiveness of multi brand strategy, will appear in this report card.

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