Nine sports brands in the world stationed in Tmall to declare local brands

On the 26th, Nike Nike, a sports brand superstar, also announced that it had entered Tmall to open an official flagship store. So far, nine of the top ten sports brands in the world have officially stationed in Tmall to open official flagship stores.

In fact, with the exception of Nike, the remaining eight are Adidas Adidas, Puma Hummer, Reebok Reebok, Fila Filare, Mizuno Mizuno, Kappa Kappa, Diadora Diadora, Lotto Lotto. In addition, there are well-known sports brands such as New Balance, Vans, etc., which have also opened official flagship stores on Tmall.

China's consumer market has become a contestable spot for global sports brands. The strategy adopted by the early global sports brands in China was to focus on first-tier cities and use strong brand influence to win the fashionable urban crowd. In 2008, China was already the world’s largest market for Nike and Adidas outside the United States.

At the same time, a number of Chinese domestic sports brands have also begun to emerge. They have adopted different strategies and rely on areas outside first-tier cities to gain a firm market position. The Boston Consulting Group's research shows that while international sports brands have once again focused more on big cities in China, their future growth will increasingly depend on smaller cities and more inaccessible remote markets.

There is no doubt that in the future China's sports goods consumer market will face two trends. China's vast consumer market is in regions 2, 3, and 4; meanwhile, the main group of sports goods consumers tend to buy their favorite products online. This also means that the online shopping market is bound to become a contestable spot for both international and local sports brands. This market determines how much these sports brands can share in the Chinese market in the future.

On the other hand, for overseas sports brands, cutting into the 3rd and 4th tiers of the domestic market means huge costs. In front of them, there are Chinese local brands that have already entered this market. Through the establishment of the online shopping market, consumers in these regions can be directly faced with such a small and broad approach that may not only be a weapon for international brands, but may also rival the rising Chinese local brands in a short period of time.

The Tmall platform provides a great opportunity for these sports brands. Adhere to the platform management, and will not compete with the business interests, brand owners directly through this platform to serve 470 million online shopping user groups. In August 2011, Adidas led the advanced station to Tmall. Puma Hummer, Reebok Reebok, Fila Filare, Mizuno Mizuno, Kappa Kappa, Diadora Diadonna, Lotto Lotto, etc., followed suit.

Another group of data from Tmall shows that the sales of sports brands in Tmall are growing very fast, with a growth rate of 300%. Compared to sports equipment and other products, shoe clothing is more popular. Maybe it is because the shoes and clothing are online shopping hot products, and the fashion component is much larger than the pure sports component. The sports brand Tmall retail sales have accounted for about 30% of the total clothing category of Tmall.