According to data published by China Industrial Information Network in 2015
the total retail sales of China's professional outdoor sports goods have shown a year-on-year decline over the past four years. Against the backdrop of China’s slowing economic growth and the saturation of outdoor apparel consumption in northern markets, outdoor brands are burdened with heavy inventories, intense competition across various distribution channels, and the traditionally fast-growing outdoor industry has entered a temporary period of consolidation.
However, the future of China’s sports industry is strongly viewed favorably by both domestic and international investors.
Like other retail sectors, China’s outdoor sports retail industry faces multiple challenges. The internet age has lifted the veil on supply-demand asymmetry, with an incomplete industrial chain and the so-called integration of online and offline channels merely being a false proposition — valuing the box over the pearl.
Cai Ming, General Manager of Nanjing Turen Outdoor and Vice President of the Nanjing Outdoor Association with nearly 20 years of experience in outdoor retail, told Hermann China Retail Platform:
“When I first got into outdoor activities 20 years ago, it was always a big group of hiking friends traveling together. At that time, there were very few professional outdoor brands in malls, or we’d go to a few specialty outdoor shops to hunt for imported goods.”
In its nascent stage, China’s outdoor products were limited and there were no professional outdoor clubs. Outdoor gear shops often doubled as outdoor sports clubs, mostly out of spontaneity.
During a phone interview, Yao Hanyang, founder of Shenyang VISION Outdoor and SportsBox, had just completed the Xiamen Marathon, using a race against himself to welcome the New Year of 2016.
In his vision, the niche outdoor industry should be incorporated into the broader sports industry.
This “outdoor entrepreneur,” who spent a decade working in brand mall channels for outdoor products, launched VISION Outdoor street-front retail outlets and outlet stores in 2012, while also opening an online retail collection platform, has tried every kind of retail channel and has constantly pondered how to offer customers a “better experience.” In 2015, he incubated a new project:
“SportsBox”
The most fundamental transformation in the “Outdoor+” industry chain is that consumer demand is placed at the source of the chain, giving rise to a complete ecosystem including brands, channels, retailers, outdoor clubs, media, exhibitions, training, events, platform operations, and capital investment institutions focused on the sports industry.
It’s actually quite hard to fully define what Yao Hanyang is doing.
“Moreover, the consumer experience and applicability are both better,” Yao Hanyang emphasized. They have built a multi-category integrated store centered around proactively enhancing customer experience and deeply understanding customer needs. By using a CRM system to record customer participation in activities, purchases, training, and competitions, they derive data models to further grasp customers’ real needs, laying the groundwork for future B2B model expansion.
Cai Ming also has a cross-industry identity:On December 12, 2015, he launched his personal WeChat public account “Ming Talks,” which focuses on the outdoor industry. This marked his emergence as an influencer leveraging his strengths in sharing and communication, along with years of accumulated industry connections.
He stated, “I won’t be making more heavy asset investments in retail, but I will focus more on growing my presence in the influencer space. I hope to use this platform to influence and inspire more people to love and engage in outdoor activities, eventually cultivating an outdoor lifestyle.”
By participating more actively in industry platformssuch as ISPO,and consistently staying engaged through various events and exhibitions to follow, collect, and analyze industry trends and developments, the dual identity of “retailer + influencer” came naturally.
At ISPO Shanghai, discover your “Outdoor+”
The ISPO Show is the most influential and largest sports and fashion expo in the world, and is recognized as one of the most professional exhibition platforms in the industry.
ISPO SH
To align with spring and summer brand ordering seasons, and to further strengthen the outdoor segment while deepening the core concept of “Outdoor+”, the first ISPO Shanghai Summer Show was launched in 2015. Since then, ISPO Shows have been held twice a year in China—once in winter in Beijing and once in summer in Shanghai.
ISPO SH
The 2016 ISPO Shanghai Summer Show will present trend-driven highlights in the outdoor sports industry through a “thematic” format, while further exploring the cross-industry integration and fusion between summer categories such as sports fashion, running and fitness, water sports, and sports-themed travel with outdoor activities.
It will not only deliver new resources and customer groups to outdoor brands, but also bring more business opportunities rooted in the “sports lifestyle” to the industry.
In recent years, water sports—especially kayaking—have seen rapid and healthy development in China. Take Shanghai’s water sports club “Jishui” for example. Specializing in kayaking training, trips, and racing, it has maintained small-scale yet stable and sound growth since its establishment in 2013.
In 2015, it appeared at the Shanghai stop of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festivaland the firstISPO Shanghai Summer Show, directly engaging with future water sports enthusiasts and winning enthusiastic attention and active participation from the audience.
Competitions are no longer just regional or government-run events.
As Yao Hanyang explained in our interview, they organize monthly trail running races in collaboration with outdoor running shoe brands, and plan to host CrossFit functional competitions and obstacle course races in the future. These events drive retail consumption through training, competitions, and post-event sharing, while also enhancing the overall “customer experience.”
Meanwhile, the domestic combat sports event brand “Kunlun Fight,” which has completed its Series B funding, plans to make major moves in 2016 in terms of broadcasting rights and the development of related industrial chains stemming from the events.
As China’s economic growth shifts from export-driven to consumption-driven, the State Council officially issued what the industry calls Document No. 46 on October 20, 2014. It proposed elevating national fitness to a national strategy. By 2025, the total scale of China’s sports industry is expected to exceed 5 trillion yuan (in 2012, the scale was about 950 billion yuan).
This is a golden age. However, while the future is bright, the path is winding. To promote the “sports lifestyle” and foster steady, sustainable industry growth, the first ISPO Shanghai Summer Show in 2015 responded to new consumer demands in the Chinese market with a multi-category, cross-sports approach. It actively built the concept of a diverse sports category and attracted27countries and regions,473brands to participate; exhibitors came from57countries and regions,18,957 attendeesProfessional visitors actively participated in a series of on-site product testing and experience activities launched by the exhibition. The energy generated by these interactions resonated across the entire industry.
The foundation of building a business model lies in fully understanding audience needs, actively transforming and creating one’s own advantages, and continuously exploring and innovating.
Only a complete, healthy, and continuously developing industrial chain and ecosystem can withstand various challenges and seize opportunities, making it—as outdoor enthusiasts often say—“more fun.” As Cai Ming wrote at the end of the inaugural issue of his personal WeChat blog “Ming Says,” “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
Are you ready?!
ISPO
Asia-Pacific’s leading trade platform for sporting goods