Adidas Is Returning To The Chinese Badminton Market.

Once in the badminton market in China, it was not convinced, but now it has changed its agent to explore the territory that it did not belong to.

Whether or not you are optimistic about its future, Adidas is returning to the Chinese Badminton market.

In the majority of Chinese users, Adidas and badminton are not the same. People are familiar with Adidas.

Full of enthusiasm, more are in football, tennis, running, basketball and other fields. When it comes to badminton equipment, many badminton fans have never heard of it.

As a superstar in the world sporting goods brand market, Adidas's influence does not need to be repeated. However, the German giant has suffered a lot in China's largest badminton market in the world.

Adidas is not willing to give up the market. This time it chose a more robust way to authorize the Shenzhen airlines of China International Airlines.

Ltd. becomes the exclusive agent in China.

According to hang Yue's theory, it will take 5 years to make Adidas the leader of China's badminton market.

However, it is not easy for Yonex, Lining, Victor and other brands to do their best to chase the battle field.

Low profile after reflection

3 years ago, Adidas had rushed into the Chinese Badminton market.

At that time, the global business of Adidas badminton was a company from Hongkong, ready to play a big role in the Chinese market, but because Adidas lost to Yonex when competing for the first Chinese badminton player Lin Dan, its badminton business in China also failed with the signing of the contract.

After reflection, Adidas is not reconciled. It wants to be more steady and cautiously avoid the old forces such as Yonex, Victor and Lining, and slowly penetrate the Chinese market.

In January 2015, Shenzhen hang Yue sporting goods Co., Ltd. of China International Airlines signed the China Agency for badminton business with Adidas through the global distributor.

This year, hang Yue signed a direct contract with Adidas headquarters and became the sole agent of China's badminton business from 2016 to 2019.

Choosing a suitable agent is the first choice for foreign enterprises to enter China.

14 years ago, the Japanese badminton brand Yonex cautiously chose Weijian sporting goods Co., Ltd. as an agent. Until 2015, the well fledged Yonex named Yonex (Shanghai) golf trade Co., Ltd., its golf sales subsidiary, also known as Yonex (Shanghai) Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., ending the general agency of Wei Sports in China and began its independent operation in the Chinese market.

The Adidas air route chosen by Adidas belongs to AVIC.

AVIC is one of the central aviation enterprises in China, which is responsible for the non aviation business, involving minerals, real estate, logistics, hotels and other fields, including retail coffee, milk, wine and so on.

The parent company's AVIC 2015 has a turnover of 430 billion yuan, ranking 143rd in the world's top 500 enterprises this year.

Wang Yanbin, deputy director of Hang Yue marketing department, told reporters that at present, there are more than 200 retail outlets in Hang Yue, and about 100000 badminton products were sold in 2017 in spring and summer in Beijing and Shenzhen in August.

Adidas also hopes to play its advantage in footwear products, releasing at least one pair of flagship shoes every year, and doing the best badminton shoes.

Focusing on the shoes, Adidas's strategy is to avoid the most competitive subdivision products.

According to hang Yue's data, Yonex accounted for 40% of China's badminton market's wholesale sales volume of 2 billion 500 million yuan in 2014, while wick and Lining had 24% and 12% respectively.

Among them, Yonex takes the racket as the leading product.

"The line must be Yonex, Yonex is the top brand of the badminton food chain," Frank, who once had more than 10 years of professional badminton players, told reporters. "The weight and material of the racket are very particular, followed by the feel of the adhesive tape, and the line is also very important."

Lining, a national brand, is mainly clothing, but Lining bought the famous badminton equipment brand in 2009.

Victor won the competition with high performance price ratio, mainly attacking badminton enthusiasts at the entry level.

Compared to Yonex, the 12 one tube wick badminton is 30 to 50 yuan cheaper.

Although Adidas wants to start with sneakers, clothing accounts for 60% of the products sold at the order meeting in August, which is not entirely consistent with Adidas's own strategy.

In the subdivision area of badminton, the professional requirements for shoes are very high.

"How many shuttlecock shuttlecock, the demand for non skid shoes is very high, not only anti-skid, but also stick to the ground."

Frank has passed Yonex and Lining's sneakers, and he has never heard of Adidas's badminton shoes.

Due to the late market entry, Adidas badminton shoes are almost blocked outside the professional stadium, and the grassroots group has become the main concern group.

However, it is slightly embarrassing that professional users do not think that ADI is professional enough, but grassroots users feel that ADI is not a grassroots.

Take footwear products as an example, Adidas sells shoes ranging from 500 yuan to 1300 yuan, while the Viktor, the main performance price ratio, has a product which is as low as 200 yuan.

Several small white users who have just started badminton practice told reporters that they would choose some cheap and practical domestic brands at the beginning, upgrading their equipment should depend on their later performance.

"We need to discuss with ADI the development of cost-effective products."

Wang Yanbin told reporters that an entry-level racket priced from 300 to 600 yuan will be introduced to the market next year, and low prices always open up the efficient market.

At the same time, a group of people with higher consumption power who have drawn the grass roots badminton crowd has become a trend of success. Female users are another focus of Adidas's attention.

Data from Hang Yue show that badminton is the first sport in China with 50 million users, of whom 10 million are regular participants, while 67% of female badminton fans are 12 to 30 years old.

Adidas badminton hopes to have a solid foothold with shoes, but sales of clothing are better now.

Wang Yanbin believes that the advantage of Adidas in acquiring female users lies in its design.

Winning the market with fashionable designs, Adidas has tasted the sweetness of this strategy, and the success of Stan Smith shoes is a good example.

Compared with male users, women have higher requirements for the appearance of sports brand, but they pursue professional performance more.

In addition, female users also attach more importance to brand recognition.

From this point of view, Adidas will be able to walk out of a professional badminton brand different from Yonex and Victor.

However, the fat market in the female market is not the only thing that Adidas stares at.

Yonex has just launched a women's exclusive racket, and has also held a series of women's amateur badminton tournaments.

Difficulties and gold lettered signboards

At present, the annual turnover of Adidas badminton in China is about 50000000 yuan, compared with billions of dishes, the room for improvement is still very large. "East China and West China are selling relatively well, but the overall market share is very small."

Wang Yanbin said.

Based on such a market share and volume, Adidas's promotion strategy is quite patient.

* invest in grass-roots groups, such as badminton communities and opinion leaders, and sponsor the main players of provincial, municipal, university or social teams.

* active in social networking, highlighting professionalism and education, rather than hosting large events and mass advertising.

* the target group is 16, 19 years old college, provincial and municipal top players, aiming at young people who are enthusiastic, confident, with international thinking and active in social networking, especially women.

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Wang Yanbin revealed that at present, Adidas has sponsored some regional competitions in Shenzhen, and is also negotiating with red bull to sponsor provincial and municipal competitions.

At the present stage, we will focus on spreading marketing outlets. Next year we will hold 400 person scale events in 4 major cities and package a Adidas theme badminton stadium in Xi'an.

Do not sign top stars, do not hold large events, do not invest in large-scale hard and broad.

Adidas's badminton marketing strategy is also inevitable.

The three badminton brands, Yonex, Lining and Victor, which dominate the Chinese market, have their own advantages in sponsoring resources.

Lining, Viktor, and Lining are part of the Sponsorship Resources in badminton.

Yonex has Lin Dan and Li Zongwei's two trump cards, and has long sponsored the Japanese badminton men's national team, which also won the Thomas cup in 2014.

Lining is currently a sponsor of China badminton team. In 2013, he became the top partner of the World Badminton Federation for the first time in 2013, and gained the naming right of the world badminton tournaments from 2013 to 2016. At the same time, he also had resources from Indonesia, Australia and Singapore and 10 provincial team resources.

In April of this year, Lining signed the former national champion Bao Chunlai.

Victor was a partner and clothing sponsor of China's badminton super league from 2014 to 2015.

In March 2015, Victor also won the Malaysia badminton national team. The two sides signed a sponsorship contract for 6 years, with a total value of about 100 million yuan.

However, Li Zongwei, a Malaysia badminton player, did not sign a contract with the national team, but maintained a personal sponsorship relationship with Yonex. This is similar to Lin Dan's departure from Lining, the sponsor of the national team, and the signing of Yonex separately.

In addition, Victor also sponsored the South Korean national team and 4 domestic provincial teams, and its sponsorship of more than 60 stars came from 8 countries and regions.

For Adidas, the most realistic problem is that we can not find high-quality badminton resources. Several big brands have partitioned off the stars and the national team.

"The biggest challenge now is that no one knows Adidas is playing badminton and we have no way to sign a national team player."

Wang Yanbin said.

Lack of basic and historical assets, and no well-known spokesperson and team resources. What Adidas can do is to play a low profile and gradually accumulate influence from the gap.

According to the current timetable, Adidas will sponsor the national amateur tournament and Club League since 2018, and began to publicize and endorse star endorsement products from international competitions in 2019.

And surpassing Yonex is the biggest goal of Adidas in the next 5 years.

Perhaps some people wonder why Adidas, whose business is booming in Greater China, insists that the water test is almost a blank badminton business.

China is one of Adidas's most valued emerging markets.

Adidas's 2015 earnings report showed that after the elimination of exchange rate factors, the performance of the Greater China region increased by 17.7% over the same period, and the growth rate exceeded that of the rival Nike.

In the global map, the Greater China region has become an important position for Adidas to compete with Nike.

It is an inevitable choice to base ourselves on the Chinese market and cater to the preferences of Chinese consumers.

Nelson released the 2015 China Sports crowd survey report, 53% of respondents have watched badminton in the past year, which is second only to football, basketball and swimming.

The Taobao Tmall joint first financial business data center launched the "sports online consumption map big data report" also proves that the Chinese people's badminton enthusiasm, consumption on ball games online, badminton stresses basketball, football and table tennis, ranking first.

The popularity and participation of badminton in China make Adidas pay attention to this market.

After all, no other well-known sports goods brand has yet to invest in badminton.

If Adidas can enter the field earlier than Nike, UA and other brands, there will be more chips and Nike competing for the throne.

But at present, China's badminton manufacturing industry, like the economic situation, has entered a relatively low cycle. In recent years, the industry has generally overcapacity, and the trend of high-end brand dropping is obvious. It is said that Yonex may also launch the middle and low end racket within 200 yuan.

Adidas's biggest advantage in the badminton market is undoubtedly the four words of "Adidas". The gold lettered signboard can ensure that the badminton series products take a shortcut in promotion, but the gold lettered signboard also means pressure, and whether Adidas can make up their minds to invest, this is the most crucial factor in its performance in China's badminton market.

Anonymous insiders told reporters that Adidas has a tendency to play badminton with grass and rabbit, and its expectations for badminton business are not high. Of course, the advantage is not to give FOTILE a big pressure.

This argument has been confirmed by Wang Yanbin. "Adidas headquarters has not given us too much pressure to do our best."

Many people are not optimistic about Adidas's badminton business, but after all, they have their aura. The entry of the German giants makes the Chinese Badminton market more or less a little ripple.