Introduction: Event registration is now open!
The China Outdoor Alliance Summit (COASummit), is a high-level forum in the outdoor industry, hosted by the China Outdoor Alliance, co-organized by the Nanjing Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Nanjing Municipal Government Convention and Exhibition Office, and undertaken by Nanjing Ningfei International Exhibition Co., Ltd. Since2015its first successful edition, it has become an annual focal point for China’s outdoor industry. This year's event will closely focus on“outdoor consumption upgrade, functional trends, and vast market potential”—key industry issues—and explore the future development trends of the outdoor industry in the context of consumption upgrade.
2018 COAThe summit will be held on6month27day (the day before the opening of the Asia Outdoor Show) at the Nanjing National Convention and Exhibition Center. This year’s forum has invited experts from within and outside the industry, as well as seasoned professionals, to participate in discussions. They will elaborate on shared concerns, analyze the latest industry developments, and address the following themes:
Functional Trend Driving Consumption Upgrade
As the scope and meaning of China’s outdoor industry evolve and expand,“the concept of”“outdoors”
has also undergone some changes. In recent years, traditional sports industries, fashion apparel, and related sectors have increased the proportion of functional products in their product lines. Functional products and technologies widely used in the outdoor sector are being borrowed and applied more broadly. Consumers also hold a positive attitude toward functional trends, which have even become one of the characteristics of this consumption upgrade. For China’s outdoor industry, this phenomenon presents both opportunities and challenges. The rise of functional trends opens broader prospects for expanding the consumer base in the outdoor sector; however, the widespread adoption by related industries also brings increased competition.
In this context, how should practitioners and theorists in China’s outdoor industry seize opportunities and meet challenges to drive another surge in rapid industry growth during this consumption upgrade? And how can they face intensified market competition and even highlight the advantages and unique features of the outdoor industry in the process?6Practitioners and theorists in the industry have varying views and strategies,
and Nanjing this
month will reveal these answers.
China’s Outdoor Brands’ Innovative Path to Globalization
After going through a phase of internal adjustment, China’s outdoor industry is gradually showing signs of rapid growth again, and exporting products to international markets has been put on the agenda. Given the relatively stable and mature supply systems and consumer bases in Europe, America, Japan, and Korea, China’s outdoor industry must rely on innovative concepts and channel systems to break into international markets. Domestically mature local outdoor brands have already achieved certain results in global markets and are gradually building their brand value and market positioning in various ways. Their success stories are invariably accompanied by different types of innovation.
At this forum, the organizers will invite various types of Chinese outdoor brands to share their experiences and lessons learned in entering international markets, and aim to summarize a set of common principles with reference value. At the same time, real cases will be used to interpret innovative concepts and market application models in the internationalization process.——Whether you are a channel player or a brand owner, whether you represent a comprehensive brand or a single-category brand, if you have a global vision, this summit will not disappoint you.
Supply Chain Integration for Functional ProductsODMThe New Growth Opportunity in This Round of Apparel Industry Recovery
In the development journey of China’s outdoor industry, with the rapid changes in the overall industry environment and internet technology, the sector has undergone a comprehensive restructuring and integration. Within this, the apparel manufacturing industry has in recent years paid increasing attention to“Athletic”intelligent manufacturing, with areas such as made-to-order and light customization becoming focuses of exploration. This has placed higher demands on the upstream industry in terms of better quality and greater efficiency, requiring intelligent links across all segments to achieve tangible outcomes. Conversely, the core of new retail is product and service, which requires integrated efforts across the entire industrial chain.
Outdoor gear, with its professional functionality, outstanding performance, and personalized subcategories, has consistently occupied the high-end segment of the apparel manufacturing industry. This would not be possible without the strong support of the outdoor industry supply chain. In recent years,COAtrends in fashion have remained popular, and the market acceptance and demand for functional products have surged, further highlighting the strengths of the outdoor industry supply chain.
A different perspective, a brand-new highlight—we’re waiting for you in Nanjing to witness this moment together.
Internet Development——New Retail Models and Community Marketing
China’s internet economy is at the forefront of the current global industrial transformation. Against this backdrop, China’s outdoor industry has also adapted proactively, reshaping its established industry models. At the same time, by leveraging the characteristics of the internet economy, China’s outdoor sector has nurtured a new generation of internet-based brands, innovative sales models, and consumer groups. The integration of the outdoor industry with internet technology has unlocked greater potential for marketing innovation. Among these, community marketing has emerged as one of the hottest topics in recent years. In real-world market applications, there are countless cases where effective community marketing strategies have successfully opened up markets and built brands, yet many subtle techniques and experiences remain to be summarized and shared.
In retail innovation for individual brands, there is rarely a one-size-fits-all golden key to the market. However, under the premise of consistent industry characteristics, many valuable market experiences and application models can still be identified. At this forum, we have invited leading practitioners in community marketing to inspire the industry by sharing their innovation journeys and to exchange insights by analyzing common traits across different brands.
If you’ve already embarked on the path of outdoor retail innovation, we’d like to walk alongside you; if your journey is just beginning, we’re ready to discuss the way forward with you.
Cultivating Outdoor Culture and Nurturing the Market
In European and American countries, outdoor culture boasts nearly a century of heritage, the outdoor industry has decades of development history, and outdoor consumers have gone through four or five generations of change—it has long evolved into a deeply rooted cultural phenomenon. But outdoor sports have only been in China for30years, the maturity of China’s outdoor industry spans merely20years, and its outdoor consumers are far from reaching a mature stage. The so-called“second-generation outdoor enthusiasts (children of outdoor enthusiasts)”have only just begun to enter the cultivation phase.
China’s domestic outdoor industry needs long-term, sustained attention and investment, along with the passage of time and gradual maturation, to eventually foster a sustainable, locally distinctive outdoor culture. There is a mutually reinforcing yet somewhat contradictory relationship between cultivating outdoor culture and developing the outdoor industry. Cultural cultivation requires long-term input and offers little immediate tangible return for businesses; on the other hand, the formation of a Chinese outdoor culture will inevitably provide the industry with a stable consumer base and market for long-term growth—one of the key factors for its survival and development.
How can we find a self-sustaining path for outdoor culture cultivation, one that can even achieve a certain degree of profitability? This model is not a fantasy—in practical operations, industry practitioners have gradually developed a set of cultural cultivation strategies tailored to the Chinese market and its consumers.6This month in Nanjing, industry leaders will share China’s outdoor culture cultivation strategies, with the hope that such models can be more widely promoted and applied across the industry.
Enabling more industry players to join the effort of fostering China’s outdoor culture without incurring additional costs. The secrets behind this will soon be revealed.
Direct access toCOAthe Summit Forum